New Era Gundanium Mobile Suit
by DuchessOfGere
Summary: The Senshi have left Crystal Tokyo and have been reborn as soldiers in a different Universe. Due to a bumbling Senshi.in.training, the former Gundam pilots find themselves involved in a foreign war.
1. Prologue

Here we go again! New and revisedwith help frommy wonderful editor, Trish. Posted as of June 9, 2005 (personal refrence for me.).

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Prologue

Solar System 657, Earth, Neo-Japan, Crystal Tokyo – 2996 AD

Makoto smiled down upon the monuments erected in memory of her wonderful friends and fellow soldiers. Haruka and Michiru, being the oldest, had been the first to relinquish their bodies and allow their star seeds and souls to return to the cauldron of life. Rei had gone next, followed shortly after by Minako. Both had willingly left their physical forms and returned to the cauldron to await their re-birth. Usagi and Mamoru had faded at the same time, their youthful bodies dissipating into a thousand specks of light. At the age of 1003, Ami had returned to the cauldron only two nights ago.

Crystal Tokyo had mourned the loss of its Queen and Court, but Makoto knew better than to grieve. They had lived out their lives together in joy and all of the Planetary Sailor Senshi had passed on in contentment. Chibi Usa –or rather Queen Serenity III- and her Senshi had all understood this and few tears had been shed. All beings returned to the cauldron, the center of all life and death in the Universes. True to the cauldron guardian's word, once Eternal Sailor Moon had destroyed the old cauldron and defeated Chaos, a new one had been born, continuing the cycle of life and death; good and evil.

Makoto folded her flawless, soft hands in front of her as she smiled down upon the monuments. Her gorgeous auburn hair fell down her back in rivulets, the youthful ponytail long abandoned. The sovereign of Jupiter had the elegant body of a twenty-two-year-old Amazon and the soul of a thousand-year-old Queen. The glittering Silver monuments sparkled and took on a pink and orange tinge as the sun set upon the Crystal Tokyo of the thirtieth century. Makoto raised her eyes to the sky and her smile widened. Unfolding her hands, she spread out her arms wide, closed her eyes, and tilted her head back, as if trying to embrace the sunset.

"And so it finally ends for me as well," she said. Her deep voice was serene and expectant. She inhaled deeply as she felt her body begin to fade. "I can't wait until we're all reborn, everyone," she whispered. Her hands and outer extremities had dissolved into flecks of sparkling green light, reflecting the setting sun's rays. The dying Senshi's eyes opened at the last moment, glittering with anticipation. "I wonder who we'll be next time. I hope it's something exciting…" By the time she had finished speaking, her body was gone and all that was left was her enthusiastic giggle, ringing in the air.

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A/N – Heh, now for the fun stuff. This is an AU ficlet. Pairings have been decided and not everybody is going to fall madly in love, okay? I'm going to try and keep everything as even as possible, but the story is probably going to wind up giving more attention to the inners and pilots. Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna, Hotaru, and Chibi-Usa are going to take a back seat for the majority of the story. They're still in it; they're just really small parts. Also, a note for everybody; I am going to make mistakes (lots of 'em too). The best thing you can do to stop this is to tell me about them. Whether it's continuity, grammar, spelling, character OOCness, etc…, I can fix it if you tell me, 'kay? As always, I want to know what you think, so ALL reviews are greatly appreciated. Stay tuned for the 1st Act. It'll be here… eventually -.-v

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ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY. DUCHESS OF GERE DOES NOT OWN MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING OR PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON AND IS MERELY BORROWING THEM FOR CREATIVE, NON-PROFIT PURPOSES.

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Thanks for reading!

Love,

Duchess of Gere


	2. 1st Act

PLEEAASSEE, won't somebody beta for me? Pretty please with cherries and all that other high-sugar junk. Bookwurm, if you're out there, thanks so much for the offer, but I can't seem to reach you by e-mail. Thanks to everyone else out there who is reading and reviewing. Love you all!

DuchessOfGere

P.S. - Wish me luck on my mid-terms!

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1st Act 

Solar System 659, Earth, Belgium, Brussels – 199 AC

Chief Une sat in her office in front of the vid-screen, fingers steeped, expression solemn. Her face was care-worn and her hair prematurely flecked with grey, but her eyes remained as sharp and hard as ever. The face displayed in high-definition on the screen in front of her was that of the singularly most important woman on and off planet, the Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlin.

"Chief Une, I know what I ask of you is difficult to believe, but please understand. The universe is so close to peace, It is vital that we alleviate all of the remaining fears of the people, no matter how far fetched they may seem." the Vice Foreign Minister pleaded, her voice imploring yet dignified.

"I understand your wish to reassure your subjects, but 'supernatural occurrences', Minister? No offense, but do you honestly believe that this is really a Preventer issue? We don't exactly have a paranormal division." Une replied blandly. On the vid-screen, Relenas lips curved into a gentle, sympathetic smile.

"I'm completely in agreement with you, Lady Une. Unfortunately, the peoples concerns are going to have to take precedence over traditional reasoning, this time; especially with all the post-war paranoia. The Australians wont even go near the beaches anymore because of these mysterious 'Crescent Moon Lights' manifesting. The local Government is terrified that, if it is some kind of threat, they will have almost no means of protecting themselves. Australia was one of the first continents to comply with the demilitarization regulations. It would put everyone at ease if you could just send a few agents to investigate. Even I am sending a close personal friend of mine to look in to this as well. I would appreciate it if the Preventers took this matter as seriously as the rest of the cabinet and I are." She spoke evenly with a light of earnestness reflecting in her bright blue eyes.

Une smirked in amusement as she watched the young woman –merely a child to her- call upon every persuasive method in her personal reservoir. Giving a sigh of defeat, Une shifted in her chair and glanced around the ornate office, searching for a reason to not concede to the Vice Foreign Ministers request. Finding nothing of use, she returned her attention to the young blonde.

"Alright, Minister; you win. I'll try to have someone there by the end of the week." Une consented. Relena beamed at the words and nodded her head encouragingly. Before she could compose a formal response, Une moved to a subject that had attracted her attention when the Minister had mentioned it. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, this personal friend you're sending would be Heero Yuy, yes?" Relenas cheeks colored at the name and Une couldn't help but turn her smirk to a smile. Clearing her throat, Relena fought for her dignity.

"Y-yes, I have –we have- kept a… correspondence over the years. We keep in touch, try to see each other as much as possible, but I'm so busy and Heero… well, Heero's business is his own." Relena flashed a secretive smile, hinting that she did indeed know what Heero Yuy was doing, but did not care to share the information. Une had to swallow a snicker. The innocent little Vice Foreign Minister had left herself so open, that Une could not resist teasing her just a little bit.

"Oh? Aren't you engaged, Minister?" Une asked slyly. Relena blinked in confusion, not understanding the sudden change in topic.

"I am." She confirmed. Her eyes dropped down and she raised a delicate hand into the vid-screens frame. Displayed on her ring finger was a white platinum ring with seven small diamonds imbedded into the band. Relena smiled fondly as it twinkled merrily in the fluorescent lights. Une gave the ring an appraising look.

"Very nice. And what does your poor fiancé do, what with you seeing another man? Does he know or are these meetings secret? You know, Minister, an affair could be very damaging if the general public were to find out." Unes tone was gleeful as she joked at the expense of the young politician's personal life. Relenas sweet face went from confused, to shocked, to embarrassed, and then back to shock to repeat the cycle.

"Lady Une, I… Affair? Heero and I, we're not… well, not like that! My fiancé, Orson, he… I would never… I do not think of Heero in that manner. I used to, but… Excuse me, but how does this have any relevance to the situation in Australia?" Relena asked sharply, embarrassed by her indignant stuttering. Une was suddenly very glad that all Preventer telecommunications were automatically recorded. The conversation had proved to be quite interesting.

"I apologize, Minister. As long as he doesn't do anything, it's not really a Preventer concern whether or not you have a pet Gundam pilot." Une teased gently. If the Preventer chief had held any less political sway than she did, then her entire career could have been scraped for such a mocking comment.

"Chief Une, please." Relena addressed her in a firm tone, signaling an end to the lighthearted taunting. "Back on topic, I have convinced the cabinet to appropriate the funds for your efforts, and I have secured a sponsor should there be any financial difficulties. However, since it is Winner Corporations money, Mr. Winner has insisted upon going to supervise the investigation. Your agents will have to meet up with Heero and him in Sydney as soon as possible. What is the earliest you think that you can have someone there?" Relena inquired patiently. Une almost choked when she had fully digested what the Vice Foreign Minister had said.

"Heero Yuy _and_ Quatre Winner? Pardon, but isn't that a bit extreme? Two incredible pilots to investigate a smattering of ghost lights?" Une accented her words with the raise of an eyebrow. Relena smiled and nodded sagely.

"Of course, I realize that it may seem excessive, but I have talked to Quatre, Mr. Winner, and he assured me that his involvement would be strictly financial. Although, he didn't agree to sponsor it until I had mentioned Heero's involvement. However, I can assure you that Quatre is not acting as a former pilot or as an active field agent. Finance only, Chief Une." Relena placated. "Regardless, I still need to know who you are sending, when they can be in Sydney, and where Heero and Quatre are to meet them." She said formal, turning the conversation back to business once again. Une's smile reverted back to a smirk. The Preventer chief had no intention of letting such an entertaining topic go. This had been the most fun Une had in months. Picking on this political protégé was so much more satisfying than terrorizing the staff of the Brussels home office.

"Alright, Minister. Two for two. I can have Preventer Chang and Duo Maxwell at Sydney Space Port by Sunday, at the earliest. Une announced over the vid-link. Relena's brow furrowed, but she did not comment and Une took the silence as a signal to continue. "Chang is on assignment in L3. Fortunately, it's fairly simple and I am positive that he would be more than happy for the diversion. His partner can handle the rest. Transportation will be costly due to the distance, especially with a Sunday deadline. Maxwell is on our reserve list, so bringing him in will cost next to nothing. Finding him is a different matter entirely. We don't keep strict tabs on our reserve agents because they are used so infrequently. His files should have the necessary information, if we dig deep enough." Une reiterated with concealed glee. She absolutely loved manipulating people. Relena sighed, but was to exasperated to argue.

"Thank you, Chief Une. I am so glad we have finally reached the end of this. It has been a pleasure talking to you. Please contact my secretary once you have finalized the details regarding time and location. I look foreword to speaking with you again." Relena concluded prettily. Une almost grinned. It was quite clear that the young minister looked foreword to never speaking with the Preventer Chief ever again.

"Good bye, Minister." She stated calmly.

"Good day." Relena chirped, the line closing with an all too cheery beep.

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Reveiw, reveiw, reveiw!


	3. 2nd Act

Good evening, everybody! (Is it midnight already?) The second act is out of the bag.

First, I would like to thank both Airlady and Amy-Star for the amazing editing jobs they did! Also, Athena Kyle for offering to beta some of my chapters.

(I tried to send you all e-mail's, but I'm not sure if they went through. Sorry )

Also, muxh love to kitty-demon92 (thank you so much for the compliments. you're so sweet.),PadFootCc (thanks.), Dapster (yeah, i can definitely see that!), Maresia Eterna (thanks for the luck!congrats on mastering a secondlanguage; i'm taking japanese and its driving me nuts!), and everyone else reading and _not_ reveiwing (shame on you!).

I don't want to give anything about the story away (like parings, plot, etc..), but I should probably warn you that romances are most likely going to be a long time comming. I'm just saying that it may be a while before anything seems to be happening. However, dont be put off, they are comming... slowly.

All that aside, on with the story...

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2nd Act

Solar System 659, Earth, Australia, Sydney – 199 AC

The Sydney Space Port was swamped with returning flights; winding down in a slow finish to the weekend rush. Wufei and Duo came into port on the 1900 Sunday Shuttle from point 6.1.18 (a small meteor where they had met up under Preventer orders). They had to elbow their way down to the baggage claim. Both of the (_ahem_) vertically challenged young men were drowned out by the hoards of tall Australians and other travelers. Duo and Wufei had managed to gain a little height over the years, but not much. Both were approximately 5'3". The only other thing that seemed to be growing was their hair. Duo's rope had accumulated a few more centimeters and Wufei's ponytail now brushed the tops of his shoulder blades. Forging through the packed Space Terminal, Duo shouted bits of conversation to Wufei when he could be heard over the roar of the crowd. Wufei's replies were infrequent and short, with undertones of his usual aloof arrogance.

"It's so loud I can't even hear myself think." Duo shouted above the din. Wufei smirked and had to atop himself from rolling his eyes. 'Duo Maxwell and thought process… not likely.' Wufei snorted at the thought.

"If you talked less and thought more, you might be able to." Wufei shot out once Duo was close enough to hear without having to yell. They shoved down the hall shoulder to shoulder, scanning the walls and overhangs for a direction sign.

"Hey," Duo hollered directly into Wufei's ear and grabbed the Asian's jacket sleeve, making the full-time agent grimace. He forcefully wrenched his arm out of him comrades grasp, but Duo appeared unaffected by the sudden loss. "That's our baggage claim, I think back that way. Come on." Duo announced. He darted away through the throng of people, slipping past travelers and hurdling suitcases as if they were not there. Wufei struggled after him and reached the baggage claim after a great deal of elbowing and glaring. Duo had already collected and shouldered his own lightweight black duffle and was scanning the rotunda for Wufei's baggage. When a familiar leather briefcase drifted by Duo snapped out a hand and grabbed the cracked leather handle, lifted it off the belt, handed the briefcase over to Wufei, and then went back to watching for the remaining luggage.

"Duo, Wufei!" someone hailed them from across the claim. Recognizing the soft tenor, Duo spun around, leaving Wufei to find the last bag on his own. "Quatre, hey man!" Duo shouted at the three figures making their way over. Thanks to a series of unexpected growth spurts, the blond Arabian stood a good ten centimeters above Heero, who had barely made 5'3". Trowa was a marginally taller, about 5'6", but remained relatively unchanged in every other aspect. Quatre, however, had trimmed his bangs for a more sophisticated, business-like appeal. "Trowa, what's up? What are you doing here? Is the circus in town or something? If you say yes, I'm going to call you on the biggest pile of horse shit I've heard all year. That would be way too much of a coincidence." Duo demanded happily, crossing his arms over his chest in mock impatience.

"No, Quatre called and said that several of us were going to be in the same place all at one time and asked if I would like to come." Trowa explained flatly. Duo immediately accepted his words with a grin. Behind them, Wufei pulled a black box-case off the rotunda, slammed it down on the linoleum floor, and turned to face his companions. He gave Quatre and Heero a nod of acknowledgement and turned a look of mild annoyance on Trowa and Duo.

"I was pulled from a mission to trek all the way out here with Duo, no less, for this little get together. Duo is a reserve, so I have no idea why he was even called up. It's impossible to tell what's going on in the chain of command these days." Wufei groused and taking the box-case under one arm and the briefcase in the other, he started for the door.

"I'm getting a car." He called back over his shoulder. Quatre strode after him.

"We have a car, Wufei." The blond informed him, but Wufei simply shrugged and kept walking.

"I'm renting another one." He said with a quick, meaningful glance at Quatre, causing the young entrepreneur to stop and watch him march determinedly out into the bus walk before sighing and returning to the others. Wufei had not even fully disappeared into the packed bus walk when Duo resumed the conversation.

"Hello, Heero." Duo smiled brightly, but did not wait for or expect a reply. What he did receive was a lukewarm smile, which only served to excite him further. "So, not meaning to sound like a broken record or anything, but Wufei's right. We all didn't get randomly selected to just come down here and see the ghost lights, any speculations?" Duo asked.

"Practical Joke," Heero intoned. The other three turned their attention to him, waiting for an elaboration. "Relena mentioned that Une went on a tangent after she discovered Quatre and I were going to be here." Heero divulged. Quatre wore a generally puzzled expression and Duo raised and lowered a shoulder in reply.

"It sounds like she's bored." Duo said offhandedly. Quatre trained his confused and questioning look toward his long haired friend. "It makes sense. That lady's used to commanding entire armies and now she semi-controls a small number of operatives that pretty much just do the left over busy work, since there's peace and all. She's bored, naturally. I think I almost feel bad for Wufei. It's got to be crazy working under her full time." He gave another one-shouldered shrug. Quatre's confusion passed and he smiled encouragingly at Duo.

"That's a very insightful observation, Duo" Quatre prompted; incredibly proud that Duo was showing signs of being aware of the reality around him. 'Or has he always been like that?' Quatre wondered to himself. The blond realized that he didn't know his old friends quite as well as he would have liked to and decided that a re-evaluation of Duo's actions and abilities was in order. Duo flashed Quatre a lopsided grin.

"Not really." He countered, "I kind of know how she feels, I guess. I'm bored too…"he flushed at the blunt admission and immediately tried to rectify the mistake. "That came out a lot more pig-headed than I meant it to be. I mean, I really don't miss the war and I'm having fun working off and on with Hilde and Howard, but I feel so… inactive. Like I'm not doing anything and… well, I guess, it just bugs me." Duo grimaced and looked away from the small group. Heero was watching him intently and Trowa quietly reviewed Duo's speech to himself.

'He was going to say something else.' Trowa decided, casting a scrutinizing glance in Duo's direction. 'I remember Heero saying something similar and I know how I feel. Does he feel the emptiness that Heero and I do? Has he been hiding it all this time?' Trowa's eyes shifted to where Heero stood staring at Duo. 'Did Heero know?' Trowa mused. The company lapsed into an odd silence, with Duo absorbed with his own thoughts, Heero staring at Duo, Quatre glancing between the two, and Trowa observing them all from the corner of his eye.

"Hm…" the small noise from Quatre instantly broke the quiet that had settled in. The sounds of the spaceport flooded back like a tidal wave over sand. Duo blinked in surprise. He could not remember at what point he had tuned out the world beyond his group of friends. "I haven't thought about it. I've been so busy, I don't have time to turn around, much less think about the past. It requires reflection, I see that now. I'm not sure why I haven't thought about this before." Quatre pondered, his lips slanting in an upset frown. Trowa took a small step toward him and placed a consoling hand on the worried blond's shoulder.

"Maybe you haven't thought about it because you don't need to. We shouldn't dwell on the past." Trowa said softly. 'We do dwell on it, Quatre, though we shouldn't,' he finished in his mind. If the absence of war did not bother Quatre, then it should be kept that way. The fewer ex-soldiers in emotional and mental turmoil, the better, he thought. Quatre smiled at Trowa appreciatively and made as if to say something else, but was deterred by Wufei's return. The fierce Asian jostled his way through the crowd towards them, tossing a ring and key up and down with a lazy flick of his wrist. He had left his bags somewhere, for he did not have them when he came back. Once he had reached them, he stopped tossing the key and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Where do we go?" He demanded immediately. Heero responded to him just as promptly.

"Quatre, Trowa, and I have accommodations, but I think we should go straight to where the sightings were," He said, eyes finally leaving Duo and moving to Wufei. Quatre nodded in agreement.

"That makes the most sense. If we get this investigation over with tonight, we have all of tomorrow to ourselves," The blond cajoled. Wufei scowled at them, his expression incredulous.

"At night? We should wait until daylight to look over the location, while any potential danger is gone," Wufei stated firmly. There was an incredible silence as four of the young men stared at their black haired companion. Duo noticed the background noises fading away again and almost rolled his eyes. Wufei matched all of their stares evenly, completely serious. There was a chuckle from just the right of Quatre. The blue eyed entrepreneur turned to identify the source of the chuckling just as Trowa burst out laughing. Quatre sighed heavily and Duo's snickering chorused in with Towa's loud laughter. Wufei went beet red in less than five seconds.

"Restless Spirits are not a laughing matter, Barton." He hissed. The booming laugh went down a notch as Trowa tried half-heartedly to rein it in. Duo's snickers evolved into chortles and Heero's lip was pulled into what might have been a smirk. Another sigh escaped Quatre and he cast a pitying glance Wufei's way. The Chinese youth glowered back at them all.

"Man, Wufei. You can face down the leader of an entire army without hardly batting an eyelash, but you won't go out at night 'cause you're afraid of the boogey people?" Duo made out between chuckles. Trowa had managed to halt the wild laughter and now ducked his head to conceal his face. Wufei's scowl deepened.

"I am not afraid. I'm being sensible about this." He moved to continue, but was cut off by a nasal voice.

"You're being childish." Heero reprimanded.

"Fine!" Wufei snapped harshly. "We go tonight, but I hold all of you responsible if anything goes wrong." He huffed, eyes daring them to challenge him. When no one said anything -except for Duo, who launched into a rather theatrical retelling of a popular Salvagers ghost story- Wufei led the others out to the small, inconspicuous six-passenger car. They loaded Duo's duffel into the back and divided themselves into the two vehicles. Quatre rode with Wufei in the rental in order to guide him to the correct place. Duo, Trowa and Heero headed toward the garage where the original car had been parked. It was nearly 2100 military time when they met up at a small beech a few miles out from Sydney.

Warning signs had been posted along the shore every seven meters. The moon reflected eerily on the water's surface and there was a small outcropping of rocks leading from the beach out into the surf. Duo was out of the large, boxy van Trowa had been driving and touched the open sand before anyone else. The night air was warm, but a drafty wind kept it from being stifling. As he leaned up against one of the sign posts and squinted at the water, the wind swept by and lifted both his braid and the edge of his jacket, making them both float and whirl beside him. Trowa came to stand behind him, bangs blowing this way and that, completely obscuring his features.

"Nothing." The green-eyed mechanic and part-time circus clown observed. (How he 'observed' anything with all that hair in his face was a complete mystery to Duo) The skyline was completely blank, save for a few twinkling satellites/stars and the quarter moon. The water looked like rippling ink washed with silver as it lapped against the rocks and sand. Duo pivoted to face the rest of the company and shrugged apologetically. He started to make some lighthearted crack about the lack of strange lights, when Heero raised a silencing hand.

"Wait." The taciturn brunette commanded, his eyes briefly flashing with a familiar determined glint. The other four instinctively shifted their gazes to where Heero was looking. Out on the water -about one meter from the last rock in the line of boulders leading out from beach to ocean- there was a faint pool of glittering silver light. The entire group gazed at it, dumbfounded. It seemed to be changing or shifting, but it was impossible to discern how. Taking a deep breath, Duo started off towards the first of the rocks trailing from the bank to the mysterious lights.

"Well, I'm going to get a look at it," Duo said, stepping up onto the first boulder in the 25 meter line of gangly stepping stones. He jumped across the first five without trouble, but when landing on the sixth, he slipped on the rock's slick, sea worn exterior, falling back. He tried to regain his balance, but wound up slamming into something behind him. "Oof!" Duo grunted. He felt someone grab his arm and steady him. Looking over his shoulder, Duo saw that Heero had followed him out onto the rocks and had caught him when he had pitched backwards. "Thanks man." Duo said cheerfully, not the least bit shaken. Heero nodded and stepped past him, jumping to the next rock.

"Be careful, many of these are slippery," Heero called out to those behind him. Duo glanced at the shore and saw that Trowa and Quatre had also moved onto the stones. Wufei stood uneasily on the beach, skittishly flicking his gaze about.

"C'mon, Wufei." Duo beckoned. "You don't want to be left on the beach alone, do you?"

Wufei looked about one last time before moving cautiously after Quatre. Continuing in this odd procession, they gradually reached the last rock, a platform large enough to comfortably hold seven, but dangerously slick. Heero crouched by the edge and looked into the glistening pool of light. Gently, he reached out to touch its surface.

"Gyah! Don't touch that!" a shrill voice split through the night air. The five young men perched on the boulder jumped and Quatre nearly plunged into the ocean head first, but was able to save himself by flinging an arm around Duo's neck, nearly choking the brunette in the process.

Running along the beech was a young girl, probably early to mid teens, with dark skin, pitch black hair, and sharp features; all hinting to an Egyptian heritage. What was truly peculiar about her was her state of dress. She was wearing a skin tight sleeveless white body suit that began with a wrought gold sailor collar and ended in a scandalously short gold skirt. She had on golden sandals with straps that wound up her calves to her knees and white gloves with gold hemming. Her crown was adorned with an oval cut amethyst embedded in a gold band. The girl's hair hung down her back in a straight cut and her tiara was partially hidden behind silken black bangs. Grasped in her right hand was a long golden staff fitted with a sparkling purple stone at the top. A thick, richly decorated Egyptian belt clinked and rattled on her hips as she ran across the beach and leapt onto the first stone, not once slowing down.

The tiny girl hopped across the stones with practiced ease, using her strange staff for balance. "Gee, are you lucky I showed up. I can't even take a bathroom break without youma showing up here and trying to jump ship, so to speak." She tisked. The confused young men could only gaze at the peculiar child in surprised amusement. "And you humans, geez… Don't you guys know when to keep your noses out of stuff? Inter-dimensional portals aren't all fun and games, you know. You could get really lost or hurt or something." She rambled on. Duo smiled fondly at the eccentric Egyptian. 'Cute kid.' he chuckled to himself.

Wufei narrowed his gaze, glaring at the odd little girl, "Who are you?" he asked forcefully. She stopped speaking mid-sentence and grinned down at him from above; for, alas, she too was taller than him by about three inches.

"I am Sailor Nut, protector of the Dimension Gates!" she stated proudly. There was a brief silence before she continued. "…In training." She added with a sheepish grin. Wufei raised an eyebrow at her self-proclaimed title, but decided it couldn't be any worse than calling herself 'Shinigami' or any other sort of ridiculous name.

"Do you have any relation to these ghost lights, Miss… Nut?" Quatre questioned politely, humoring the girl for the time being. Sailor Nut blushed and twirled her staff nervously in her hands.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't mean to! Gyah, this is so embarrassing… See, I was doing this training exercise with Sailor Ka, she's my mentor, and, well, I totally, almost completely, botched the spell. It was supposed to be this simple crystal-power-focusing-thingy, but Sailor Anubis kept making faces and I couldn't concentrate, right? So it was all like poof, and then there was this shiny thing on the water and I got in some serious trouble. Now Ka has to go all the way out to the Sailor Archives to get the Book of Dimensions just to seal up this stupid portal-thingy-majiggy-whatever. Until she gets back, I'm, like, on guard duty. And it is so, boring. I have to scare off the humans, chase off the youma… It's just so '_yuck'_" She explained readily. Quatre sighed, wishing for a slightly more believable answer; one with a fewer Egyptian Gods, a little less poof and a lot more logic.

Not impressed with the girl's silly games, Heero ignored her antics and returned his attention to the shimmering light. On closer inspection, he could see images flashing through it at what he estimated to be about twenty-four or so different pictures a second. Finding nothing else of serious note or interest, Heero extended his fingers and brushed them lightly through the mysterious light. As soon as his hand touched the softly glowing anomaly, he felt a sharp tug, like something had grabbed his wrist and was pulling him off the rock and into the water. There was a great ripping noise and the light sprung up around them, illuminating the sky and drowning out the moon. Hurricane winds tore around them. Trowa braced himself and used his arms to shield his face while Quatre and Duo tucked down into a defensive crouch. Wufei used his jacket to protect his eyes from the ripping winds, but not before sending an icy glare in the crazy girl's direction. Sailor Nut brandished her staff and jumped back off of the rock and away from the so-called portal.

"Gyah! You idiot, I told you not to touch…" there was a tremor as the winds died and the light faded back to its original state. Sailor Nut slowly lowered her weapon and gazed transfixed at the deserted boulder.

"…that." She finished dejectedly. Looking about her, she peered into the waves, just to make sure that the strangers had not fallen in. After her brief inspection, she was forced to conclude that the five men had indeed been dragged in to another dimension by that stupid, ignorant, pig-headed, irrational, arrogant, really cute, brunette with the alarming blue eyes... "Focus, Nut. Focus!" She berated herself under her breath.

Loosely grasping her staff in both hands, Sailor Nut gave a tried sigh and mournfully gazed up at the night sky. "Ka is going to be so pissed with me…" she mumbled as she turned away and started hopping back towards the beach. She cast one last, woeful look at the dimensional gateway before pushing off from her slippery perch. Her leg shot out from under her and, with a great scream and waving of limbs, Sailor Nut plunged staff first into the brine.

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Hello, again. Or should I say "goodbye", considering that it's the end of the chapter? Anyways, that's it for chapter two.

Oh, incase your're wondering about Nut, her name comes from an Egyptian Goddess (as do all the names of the Senshi in her group). _Nut_ is the goddess of the sky and the mother goddess of severalcentral Egyptian gods. _Ka_was the term meaning"soul".

That's it until next time. Thanks for reading!

Love,

DuchessOfGere


	4. 3rd Act

A/N- Hello once again. I bet you all thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth or something. Nope! I just gave up FanFiction for Lent (a whole 40 days!). Unfortunatly, now i can't seem to get in contact with my beta's. Although it's my fault for not notifying them of my hiatus in advance. So, once again, I'm looking for a good soul willing to proof-read my stories. I had to do this chapter myself, so there are probably 4 million gramatical errors. I'm really sorry.

Thanks to all my reveiwers! Please enjoy.

Love,

DuchessOfGere

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3rd Act

Solar System 19926, Outer Space, Sector 4 (S4), Space Station 13.1.22 – 907 NE

"Fire in position. Stage 2, set."

"Radio silence in ten. Stage 2, proceed. Love 'Go'."

"Fire 'Go'."

On the bridge, in Station 13.1.22's Central Control Room, a young Space-Earth Treaty technician sat at his post, diligently playing a game of Pong on a small, hand-held machine. The computerized ball bounced onto his side of the digital court at an alarming speed. The technician slammed on the "up" button and watched as the ball of red pixels sailed past his virtual paddle. Groaning, the teenager conceded to the computers victory and placed the device atop one of the mechanical read-out monitors he was supposed to be overseeing. He glanced briefly at the screen, down at his hands, and then back at the screen in an overly dramatic double-take. Frowning, he pulled a key pad from its storage compartment under the desk and accessed the personnel identification memory from the locking system files. A passing communications aide stopped to read over his shoulder.

"Hey, Brown. What do you have there?" the aide asked conversationally. Brown looked up at him from his seat and gestured to the monitor.

"Someone –the computer records say it's a First Private, Kareem Soleedon- just entered the secondary engine cooling room. That area's restricted; mechanics only," Brown explained. The communications aide nodded solemnly.

"Pull up the visual," he suggested. Brown complied and typed the order into the ships computer. There was a delay as the computer searched for the correct camera feed. Much to the two men's disappointment and growing unease, a blinking message appeared and informed them that the visual input from camera #103 had been disconnected. "Call the Commander or the Security Office," the aide directed. The young technician grunted and began fumbling with the ships Inter-Communications System. Keying in the commanders private number, the jittery teen lifted the microphone to his lips with trembling hands. He was beginning to grasp how serious the situation might be. This was, after all, the first time anything mildly interesting had happened on his watch. With a flick of the switch, the Inter-Communications link crackled to life.

"Commander Estrada, urgent message. Commander Estrada…" he paged shakily. He, a no-name technician, was about to exchange words with the Commander of 13.1.22, second only in rank to the Captain and Pilot themselves. He did not have to wait long for his wish to come true.

"This is Wanda Estrada, report, Central Command," a woman's voice responded over the closed line. Her rich Hispanic accent was distorted by the static of the Communications link. Brown nervously cleared his throat and continued.

"Central Command reporting. We've lost visual in the secondary cooling room for engine three, Hallway B6. There is someone in there, madam," he explained to his superior.

"Who?" the voice across the line demanded. "Who does the locking memory ID them as?" she asked sharply. Brown glanced at the screen and read the name off to her. There was a brief moment of silence before the Commander spoke again. "A First Private? Where was he supposed to be? Check the guard register for Hallway B6 and find out who is on duty up there." She ordered, voice rising in anticipation. The technician nodded and then blushed, realizing that the Communications Aide was the only one there to see the gesture. Trying to brush his humiliation aside, he quickly accessed the register listing on-duty guards. Once he found what he was looking for, his eyes lit up and he reported his findings with gusto.

"Yes. Yes, madam. Soleedon, First Private Kareem Soleedon, and Sergeant Melissa Kalgarize were both on temporary guard duty in B6 this shift, madam." He announced enthusiastically.

"Good. Get on a general radio and call them. I'm on my way to the Bridge now. I want to know what is going on as soon as you contact them," she said, the tone of dismissal ending the exchange. Brown radioed out and cut the line. The aide was already looking for the Sergeant and First Private's radio frequency when a middle aged woman burst into the room, breathing heavily, her olive eyes wide with fear and shock. Brown stood up from his seat in front of the various monitors. After looking her over, he recognized the features of the woman as those of Sergeant Melissa Kalgarize from the regulation photograph displayed along side her statistics in the Guard register.

"Sergeant Kalgarize!" Brown exclaimed, astonished by her fortuitous yet unexpected appearance. At the sound of his voice the woman gave a mournful wail and almost seemed to swoon. The aide rushed foreword to support the sobbing woman. "Uh, Commander Estrada is looking for you…" Brown partially mumbled, unsure of what to do in the face of the Sergeants water works.

"Kareem is dead!" she shrieked wildly before dissolving into tears again. The aide rubbed her back in soothing circles, but was obviously disturbed by her declaration. He took a deep, even breath, determined to remain strong and calm in the face of chaos.

"Put out an alert and contact the Commander. We can't sound the inter-station alarm without an officer's approval." The aide instructed the stunned technician. "Now, Brown!" he snapped when the inexperienced teenager failed to comply with his directions. Brown jumped at the harsh tone of the aide's voice and made a mad scramble for the ships Inter-Communications System.

"Commander Estrada, this is Central Command. Commander Estrada!" he managed to stutter out. The response was prompt, as the Commander had been awaiting his report.

"Estrada." She confirmed impatiently, skipping the formalities in favor of saving time. Brown took a shuddering breath and tried to ignore the Sergeants sobs and give his report.

"The Private is dead, madam. His partner is here, but she… she…" the sound of Kalgarizes hysterics required no further explanation and the Commander understood immediately. "What are your orders, madam?" he inquired.

"I'm on the Bridge. I'll be there in under a minute." The Commander assured him. Brown gave an affirmative and cut the line for a second time. He glanced at the crying woman and bit his lip. The whole situation was a little overwhelming to a first timer like himself. Just as he was about to work him self into a panic of his own, the metal doors of the Control Room slid open and the Commander strode in briskly. She cast a disapproving look on the uncontrollably shrieking Sergeant and turned to the technician. Brown rose to salute her, but was knocked aside by the floor suddenly tilting, upsetting the artificial gravity and causing the station personnel to stumble.

"What the…?" the technician cursed. An explosion rocked the ship and Brown clutched at the back of the seat in order to remain standing. Furious, the Commander unceremoniously reached around the befuddled technician and keyed in the emergency alarm sequence into the key pad. The alarms blared to life and, with that, the entirety of Station 13.1.22, secondary Space-Earth Treaty (SET) outpost, fell into complete and utter turmoil.

Alarms roared and lights flashed in warning throughout the Station. Squads of armed SET soldiers ran haplessly through the corridors of the immense, town-sized station, searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack, not realizing that it was already too late. In the Central Control Room, the young technician dropped into his seat and began typing written system alerts under the Commanders watchful eyes. His fingers moved automatically, but his eyes were glued to the screen as he stared in disbelief. Chewing his lip, he swiveled in his chair to deliver the latest of the bad news to the frazzled officer. She was leaning over his shoulder to dictate what he should type into the alerts and he wound up bringing his elbow into her hip when he turned. She winced briefly, but chose to glare at him instead of wasting time on a verbal reprimand. Brown flushed and dropped his chin.

"M-madam, the docking bay overseer says… well, they've jammed the remote docking controls. We can't launch your shuttle or any of the escape pods, but everyone in the bay is working on it and they should be able to fix it… eventually." The boy relayed timidly. The livid Commander straightened her back, took a deep breath, and slammed her fist into the metal wall above the monitors. The technician gaped at where her fist had connected with the wall and began to tremble from the bottom of his toes up. Swearing vibrantly in Spanish, she reached across Brown and grabbed an intercom microphone.

"This is Commander Estrada. There has been an intruder alert. An unknown amount of Bombs and other explosives have been placed on this station; find them!" she barked into the mike. Her order rang through he station and the already panicked soldiers quickened their pace, adding to the pandemonium. The poor technician almost joined Sergeant Kalgarize in her tears.

"Bombs, madam?" he whispered fearfully. The older woman snarled down at him.

"What else do you think caused those tremors?" she hissed savagely. Kalgarize wracking sobs were her only reply. The Commander wanted to scream. In a matter of minutes, the mighty SET outpost had been brought to its knees. All radio frequencies had been blocked, jettison suits had been sabotaged, the docking controls disabled, security monitors displayed nothing but static, and doors to armories and certain supply rooms refused to open. She read the flood of incoming damage reports over the young technicians shoulder with a sinking feeling of despair. When she became unable to bear any more negative messages, she twisted around to watch the docking bay below from the bullet-proof observation window in the Control Room.

She had worked on Space Station 13.1.22 for over twenty-three years and in the last four, the station had smuggled information and arms to the Space-Earth Treaty, quartered SET troops, and harbored their Space Craft. 13.1.22 was no longer an Earthian Alliance military observation satellite, but a full fledged battle station loyal to the recently formed SET. The Captains, Pilots, and Commander Estrada's own aspirations for the station had all come to pass once they had joined under SET command. Her dream was being destroyed before her eyes. Burning rage and bitter disappointment filling her heart, the ruined Commander turned on the few people stationed in the cabin.

"Find who caused those danm explosions!" she shouted, her voice echoing off the steel walls and metal machinery. She turned back to glare out the window, not really caring if anyone followed that last order or not.

In the bay below, just under the Commanders nose, two figures slid along the wall directly under the window, hugging the shadows. They both slipped out of the large docking area and into one of the few deserted halls. Signaling silently to each other, the two began down the hall towards a secondary bay, one much smaller than the central one they had just left. Just as the mysterious forms rounded a corner, five young men shimmered into existence in the next corridor over. Consequentially, when the two forms sprinted around the corner at a fast, yet stealthy pace, they collided directly with two of the new arrivals.

The first figure, a shape composed of black with flashes of cream-tan coloring, bounced into Heero and propelled backwards away from him as fast as its muscles could make the switch. The second figure, shining gold and white, plowed into the still slightly dazed Wufei. They both went over in a jumble of limbs and surprised noises. Without either of the two touching the ground, they jumped back to their feet, instantly alert and well aware of the others presence. The first figure, the black one, had a gun pressed to Heero's forehead before the rest of the company could gather their bearings. At the sight of the assumed to be loaded firearm, all motion among the five men ceased and everyone stood stock still. That is, except for the teetering second figure, who still seemed a little unbalanced after its jarring collision with the Chinese Preventer.

Since the rapid sequence of events had slowed down to a slightly more moderate pace, Heero was able to get his first good look at the two figures before him. The first one, the one with the gun, was a young woman. She appeared to be, to the best of his estimates, about 160 centimeters tall, with jet black hair pulled into a constricting bun on the back of her head, and graceful, Oriental features. A black flight suit with red ribbing covered her from neck to ankle with the legs of the suit tucked into sturdy black boots. The clothing was practical, but a bit macho and oddly out of place with the rest of her. Heero traced back up to her face and found her dark purple eyes scanning over him appraisingly, calculating and judgmental.

Completing his initial inspection he turned his attention to the next "problem". The second figure they had encountered was also a woman about the same age (surely no older than 19, at most), but 8 centimeters or so shorter in stature. This one was blonde and had her hair braided into two identical pigtails that trailed down her back and bumped against her sides when she moved. Each pigtail was tied off with a large red bow, flanking her hips where her hair ended. Having recovered from her earlier crash, she was facing her companion, but her light blue eyes were trained exclusively on the five men. Heero noticed that this woman, like her companion was also heavily armed, to the point where even he might consider her dangerous. The blonde had on a white flight suit with a black weapons belt slung tight across her upper hips and a machine gun slung over her shoulder and across her back. Her overall appearance was intriguing, but Heero found it mildly disturbing when he was forced to conclude that both she and her partner were, in fact, well trained soldiers of some sort. By the blaring of the stations alarm, he could guess their reason for being there.

He was pulled from his thought when the weapon held against his forehead began to hum and grow warm; the usual signs of a laser-powered hand gun being charged.

"Who are you?" the ebony haired one demanded. Her voice was sharp and clear, like the whistle of an arrow shot from a bow. Once again, he was unexplainably troubled by how out of place such a voice was in the middle of a war zone. There was a tentative stillness as the opposing groups stared each other down. Wufei -due to his current confusion, anger, and immense dislike for being mystically transferred from one location to another without his consent- stepped foreword in challenge.

"Where are we?" he demanded in turn, tossing the first woman's words back at her. The thought of being held at gun point by two women did not seem to appeal to him. Wufei glared at her expectantly, waiting for her weak constitution to bend to his superior will. She did not waver and Heero absently noted the humming noises growing louder as she accelerated the guns charging rate. The dark eyed woman gazed into Wufei's eyes for a long time, as if trying to read his soul. He returned the look, but could not muster the soul-searching intensity that the dark haired woman naturally possessed.

"Ahem. As much fun as this is, Fire, we need to come to a decision; shoot the guy or don't. Either way, those explosives are set to go in less than twenty." The blonde soldier advised her companion in a sing-song voice. Fire –what Heero assumed was the black haired woman's code name- nodded and lowered her gun, but kept it powered up.

"I don't know who they are, but they're not SET and their not evil." She informed her smiling partner, lifting her eyes from Heero and chancing a glance in her blonde friend's direction. "We have eighteen. I set the automatics early." Fire corrected with a tiny smile of her own.

The blonde broke into a full-out grin and shook her head, "Then we better get moving," she chided. Fire nodded and moved to go around the five obstructions in their path. Since neither girl had seen a weapon, even after threatening one of them with a laser-powered gun, the two agents presumed the lost boys to be unarmed. That assumption proved false when Heero, Wufei, and Duo simultaneously withdrew their hand-guns. Trowa unsheathed a rather menacing looking knife from an ankle sheath tucked under the cuff of his jeans. Both women had brandished their own weapons in response. The second woman gave an irritated huff.

"This isn't productive…" she whined. Smiling amiably at the five pilots, she offered an extemporized truce. "Look, kiddies, we're on a tight schedule here, so, if Fire says you're clean, why don't you come with us. We can talk this over when we get back to base, okay?" she suggested, her tone chipper and her smile inviting. Fire gave her a disapproving frown, but did not have the time to voice any objections before Quatre cut in.

"That would be lovely." He replied, sounding as if he had just accepted an invitation to afternoon tea, or something equally as mild. The blond sent him a dazzling smile and holstered her gun, but her black haired comrade did not budge.

"And how, Love, do you suggest we do that?" the stubborn dark haired teen ground out icily. "We don't exactly have a way of getting them out. The GMS's only have room for one." Fire argued bluntly. The woman under the codename Love smirked and waved her finger in a scolding motion.

"Not if you take the carrier. Look, your headed back that way to unload Mars anyway, ne? Instead of booting Mars up, you just fly the entire carrier out of here. Meantime, I'll pick up V-babe and come back around to meet you." The blonde promised, extending her index and middle finger and curling the remaining digits into her hand and under her thumb, forming a "V" shape. "We'll call it 'Love and Venus's Body Guard Service Contingency Plan'!" she grinned cheekily at her own joke, one that only she seemed to understand. Fire rolled her eyes at the all too familiar gesture and tacky application of obscure humor.

"Fine," Fire grudgingly consented. She scrunched her bare fingers into a side compartment at her hip and withdrew a thin wire contraption. At one end of the rubber incased wire was a gray earpiece and loop. Dangling several inches from the earpiece was a miniature computer chip ensconced in a clear plastic coating. Fire fitted the earpiece into her right ear and hooked the loop around the lobe, leaving the excess wire and chip to dangle from her ear in strange parody of an oversized earring. Love dipped her chin once in farewell and departed down another corridor. Fire watched her until the blonde braids had completely disappeared around some corner a few meters ahead. As soon as the bright eyed soldier was out of sight, her dark eyed counter part heaved a resigned sigh and holstered her weapon.

"Come on." She instructed crossly, starting down an adjacent hall in the maze-like Space Station. Quatre moved to follow her and was halfway between her and his friends when he realized that he was the only one who had moved at all. Seeing this, Fire turned back to the four stubborn and wary pilots, put her hands on her hips, and gave her best agitated glare. "You can come with me, or you can go up in a fiery inferno in fifteen and a half minutes." She snapped, making a point of glaring at each of the remaining four individually while she spoke. When no one responded, she pivoted on her heal and ran down the hall. Quatre cast a pleading glance at his friends before sprinting down the hall after their reluctant guide. Duo grinned broadly and took off after the Arabian.

"It's better than being dead!" Duo shouted over his shoulder. The blunt reminder was all that was needed to spur the remaining three into action. Before the echo of his words had faded from the metallic halls, Heero, Trowa, and Wufei were down the passageway and around the corner, bringing up the end of their odd procession. The front of the group had wound its way through the corridors and was entering a small secondary hanger by the time the trio of stragglers caught up.

Whereas the main docking bay could have easily docked a good ten to fifteen ships, this secondary, more petite bay was barely able to house the two single pilot scouting vehicles and the large carrier ship docked there. The hanger was cramped and almost claustrophobic in atmosphere. The oxygen-nitrogen mix being pumped in was thin and dry; the minimal supply of air needed to sustain life. The two ancient scouts had most certainly seen better and gander days. Cracks and dents riddled the hull and wings. One of the crafts was missing its right landing wheel and had been propped up on a large cement brick to compensate. The carrier overshadowing these two shabby vessels looked brand new. The exterior was sleek and luminous, the entire ship was easily a few stories tall, the tiny windows were crystal clear, and the paint job was pristine. The carrier had a "brand new" glisten to it that made it seem as if it had come right off of the assembly line.

It had come directly from the factory; an SET factory to be exact. It had been liberated from a Space-Earth Treaty Mobile Suit Assembly Factory shortly preceding the entire plants destruction. A large red triangle circumscribing a half planet fused with half of a spherical Space Station was stamped onto the side of the massive carrier ship. The letters S, E, T were printed above the logo in bright white paint.

Fire took a brief head-count, and then rushed over to the mammoth transporter. Ignoring the conventional crew-and–passenger entrance, she made straight for the ten meter tall cargo bay door. She stopped just in front of the reinforced steel door and knelt down near the lower right hand corner. Silence overtook the small hanger as the lady-agent studied the smooth metal surface. Without a sound, she raised her fingertips to trail along the surface. She used her ring finger to press some unseen point along the door and was rewarded with a small clicking noise. Satisfied that whatever hidden locking mechanism had been properly released, she pressed her forearm, shoulder, and side onto the steel and settled her weight against it, using her legs and unpinned arm for leverage. She shoved against the corner and beamed triumphantly when a square portion of the cargo bay's door detached and fell backwards in to the interior of the hulking carrier. Ushering Quatre and Duo in, she looked up at Heero and Trowa with a saccharinely sweet expression.

"Could one of you jam the Manual Docking Control for me?" she implored with a forced smile. Fire gestured vaguely toward a series of panels lined up alongside each other across the wall nearest to the two men. Heero -not wishing to augment the reasons for her to dislike him and his companions (and thereby leave them stranded on a doomed Space Station) - moved to comply. A bullet came whizzing past him from his far right and crashing into one of the panels, effectively deactivating the Manual Docking Control. Startled by the unexpected discharge of an automatic weapon yet unwilling to let it show, Heero took a deep and calming breath before turning to see who had fired the shot. Trowa stood little ways from him storing his gun somewhere within the confines of his brown polyester jacket. Heero raised a dark brow at his friend's uncharacteristically impulsive action. Their unexplainable relocation to a detonating military ship from the quiet beech in Sydney, Australia seemed to have unsettled Trowa more than Heero had previously thought. Though, when he paused to really consider the effects of the abrupt reorientation, he realized that he was not in any better condition. Nervous jitters seemed to be a common ailment among the five boys.

Their guide did not seem concerned with the mental and emotional state of her charges, nor did she appear surprised that the green-eyed brunette had a firearm in addition to the knife sheathed at his ankle. Instead, she held her false smile in place and waved them through the trap door and into the cargo hold.

"Thank you." She addressed Trowa somewhat pleasantly as he passed by her to go through the hidden opening. For a moment, a hint of amusement tinged with pity flashed in her eyes and she offered him a genuinely sympathetic smile. Trowa did not return the expression, but it served to relax him and soothe a few of his slowly fraying nerves. Wufei slipped through last and Fire followed them in, sealing the door behind her. Upon making absolutely certain that the steel panel was air tight and secured, she rose from her stoop and turned around to stride across the cargo hold and into the cockpit. She set out on her intended path, but was stopped by the five frozen men-turned-statue. Looking past them to see what had entranced her charges so, she found herself staring up at the large metallic figure occupying eighty percent of the carriers cargo hold.

Crouched with its great metal knees to its dully gleaming chest compartment sat a humanoids mechanical giant. At full height the robot might have been over 16 meters tall. The exterior armor had been painted black for the most part. Streaks of purple and red around the head and legs served to offset the monochromatic design. The chest, shoulder armor, and feet were all dark red. A long barreled gun was attached to the right calf of the metal monster by mechanical latches along the side of the leg. The thick barrel of a Cannon could be seen protruding over the left shoulder of the crouching robot. A double barreled gun was built into the left arm, where it could fire just below wrist level. The visible armaments were too few to be sufficient for such a large machine, alluding to the fact that there were still a few tricks concealed in the gigantic form. In the dark, un-lit cargo bay, the hauntingly familiar exterior alloy glistened softly down upon the pilots. Duos breathing sped up as the understanding of what the machine was sunk in.

"That's a…"

"Gundam." Heero finished. Everyone's breath seemed to catch at the words. There hadn't been a Gundam since the Eve Wars nearly two years ago…

"And it's rigged." A sharp feminine voice informed them. The black haired soldier elbowed through them and marched over to a door opposite the one they had entered through. She punched in a quick combination into the lock neighboring the second door. The heavy door slid open in one fluent movement, attesting once again to the prime condition of the carrier. "Touch it, and you'll find yourself in a situation no better than the one you just escaped." She warned, moving into the cockpit. Giving the large suit one last lingering look, the young men moved into the cockpit with the black haired ring-leader.

Fire sat in the pilot seat, strapped in and going through the pre-flight system checks. The two girls had left the engine running, so the carrier was ready and rearing to go. Catching on quickly, Wufei instantly made his way to the back and harnessed in to one of the passenger seats. Duo grinned and pounced over to the co-pilots chair.

"Do you mind?" he asked jovially. She spared him a brief glare, but didn't object, cueing Duo to slide into the seat next to her and strap in. Quatre and Trowa grabbed the two empty seats next to Wufei and Fire threw the engines into gear. The ship lurched foreword with a jerk. Heero, the only one not to take a seat, stumbled and had to grab the wall to steady himself.

"Sit down, Yuy." Wufei commanded from his place next to Quatre. Heero glanced from Wufei to Fire and back to Wufei, but said nothing nor did he move from his spot against the wall. Fire opened the docks exterior doors and the large carrier blasted out into space. Heero almost fell over completely.

"Yuy," Wufei snapped angrily. Heero did not even look his way.

"Heero, sit _down_!" Quatre hissed. Unaccustomed the threatening tone coming from the level headed blonde, Heero twisted around and sat in the nearest chair, giving Quatre a faintly surprised look. Quatre nodded once in approval and returned his attention to their pilot.

Having left the confines of Station 13.1.22, Fire used one hand to maneuver the massive carrier and the other to unhook the chip-and-wire piece from her ear. She flipped a compartment on the dash open, popped the chip out of its clear casing, and pressed it in to the opening. She closed the compartment cover and opened a radio link. Satisfied that her part of the job was completed, Fire settled back into her seat and concentrated on watching for enemy space craft.

The carrier floated in silence while its pilot awaited contact from her blonde partner. Time passed agonizingly slow for the occupants of the SET transporters cockpit. To Quatre, passing time that felt like minutes was only a matter of seconds on his wrist-watch. The tension in the air mounted as the initial stupor that had come over the five young men began to fade and their instincts and need for answers began to resurface. Fire struggled to keep her own emotions in check and not lash out at the next person who inhaled. Although, that long chestnut rope her "co-pilot" was sporting was awfully tempting…

The members of the cockpit (and Duo's scalp) were saved from any further discomfort when a small red light near the pilot's controls lit up. Sighing in relief, Fire quickly accepted the incoming transmission. A happy, bubbly voice sprang into the cockpit from a set of speakers situated around Duo's knees.

"Is it in?" the voice asked. Fire smiled softly at the sound of Love's energetic tenor.

"Yes. We've got a direct two-way link. Anything the outside picks up will be scrambled jitter; useless." Fire assured her blonde companion, tapping a long white finger on the compartment housing the computer chip that had decorated her ear.

"Super, Rei. I'm almost on you guys, so start moving. I think they may have reactivated the remote docking system." Love relayed her tone suddenly grave. Fire, or Rei, seemed startled by the news. Her dark purple eyes widened and her lips parted in what was akin to her jaw hanging open.

"Already? That would make them surprisingly competent, for a change," she commented. Even as the words left her mouth, her capable hands were maneuvering the carrier deeper into Outer Space.

"Well, were about to get company. I suggest you start moving, Rei-babe. That carrier is nowhere near as fast as Venus, especially with a 7.5 ton GMS in the back." The cheery voice cautioned. Rei slid the throttle forward, accelerating the heavy craft to a reasonable speed. "You got your coordinates?" Love inquired over the radio link. The second thrusters kicked in and the carrier bumped foreword.

"Yes, we're meeting at Triton base. We'll have to call Michiru once we get out of here," the black haired woman's voice had an almost conversational droll to it, as if the entire exchange was merely friendly banter.

"Ah, I see you guys! I'm under you now. I'll come up starboard side." The jubilant Love exclaimed. It then occurred to Heero that, if he listened hard enough, he could hear the hum of an approaching craft. Staring out a nearby window, he saw a white head followed by a set of shoulders come in to his line of vision. The gundanium armor of a white mech reflected the stars surrounding them. Heero heard Quatre give a sharp gasp of surprise from the back of the cockpit.

"Another one, it's another Gundam!" Duo exclaimed, rising part way out of his seat to get a better look.

"Actually, it's a GMS; short for Gundanium Mobile Suit. This is my girl, Venus." The voice from the white Gundam giggled. "Hey boys, how're you doing? Rei hasn't shot anyone yet, right?" Love snickered. Rei grasped the controls in a death grip and rolled her eyes. Duo was grinning again.

"Minako, you're a moron." Rei muttered. A happy giggle resonated from the cockpit speakers.

"I love you too, Rei! I mean, it's not my fault you're so… Drat, time to move! I've got two –three- fighters coming from the Station." Minako stated all business. Rei did not offer a verbal reply. She pushed up on the throttle and launched the cumbersome carrier out into the depths of space at top speed. The white GMS moved parallel to them up till the time that the first shot was taken at the fleeing space crafts. Rei forged onward even as their guardian Gundam slowed and turned to face their pursuers. Heero rose in his seat, much the way Duo had, to keep the GMS in view. He was able to see the first of three small mobile suits open fire on the white Gundam with a machine gun. The bullets whizzed through the empty space that the blonde's GMS had previously occupied. Heero blinked to clear his eyes. The GMS had moved so quickly he had hardly been able to see it. He had only ever seen one mobile suit ever move that fast and that abominable machine had been destroyed a long time ago, he thought.

The Gundam stopped a little above the first enemy suit. It extended one mechanical arm in the direction of the aggressor suit. The wrist of the GMS unhinged, moving to the side of the arm. A long gold chain, pulsing with manufactured energy shot out of the appendage and wrapped around the targeted suit. The trapped suit sparked and crackled as it was crushed from the outside. There was a brief moment of resistance against the golden chain before the inferior suits exterior armor caved in, crushing the chest cavity and the pilot inside. Once rendered disabled and pilot-less, the SET suit was released and the victorious white GMS swiveled to meet the next of the advancing suits.

Unfortunately for the escaping soldiers, one of the SET mobile suits had managed to get a few shots off at the carrier while their champion, so to speak, had been busy crushing its victim. Due to Rei's skills as a pilot, which proved to be quite extensive, none of the shots landed. This attack did, however, serve to bring it to the attention of everyone inside the carrier how vulnerable they were.

"Sitting ducks…" Duo hissed angrily, voicing the entire cabin's thoughts. Quatre swallowed nervously and began to fidget, wanting to take control, but knowing that it was not his place. Wufei turned a seething glare on the girl in the pilot's chair, but refrained from doing or saying anything as such a disturbance had a higher probability of costing them their lives than if he left the woman to do as she pleased for the time being.

"Not sitting, not as long as I'm here." Rei denied vehemently, jerking the craft up just in time for a fired beam of energy to pass below them. Heero was still watching and analyzing the fight going on behind them. The white GMS darted around at amazing speeds, using its chain like a whip to slash and crush its enemies. The similarities between the mobile suit he was looking at and the Epyon were unsettling to Heero. The only true differences were some variances in weaponry and the pilots fighting style. Rather than closing in on the opponent, the blonde chose to keep her enemies just within range of her chain to allow for movement and retreat. A bit more cautious and much more defensive from any fight he had ever seen the former Lightning Count in.

While Heero was watching the fight, Trowa was looking around for something –anything- that might be useful or constructive. Finally alighting on something that might be of use, he was highly amused (and slightly annoyed) to find that Heero Yuy had been sitting on it and had yet to notice.

"Heero," Trowa called softly, catching the other mans attention. "You do realize that you're sitting in a gunners post," He almost smiled at the emotions that flickered through Heero's blue eyes.

"Ah," Heero pulled his gaze away from the battle and saw that if he sat back properly, strapped in, and shifted the chair forward, he would have full access to a traditional gunner's niche. From the front of the cockpit, Rei grunted.

"I can't trust you to do that," she said flatly, eyes on her feedback screens and radars. Wufei erupted at the blasé response.

"Are you mad, woman? You have two mobile suits on your tail and you won't let him help?" he shouted, unfastening his harness and preparing to leave his seat to confront her.

"No, I won't because I don't trust him, or any of you for that matter." She snapped back.

"Miss, we trusted you with our lives, wouldn't it be reasonable for you to trust us for just a short period of time in return?" Quatre reasoned diplomatically. From his seat next to her, Duo saw Rei purse her lips in a restrained scowl.

"A short period of time is all it would take for you to take a shot at Minako. I'm sorry. Please, we saved your lives. Can I ask that you follow my orders for the time being? Besides, there's no need for one any longer, Minako's already finished," Rei informed them with a short glance at her radar. True to the ebony haired woman's words, a weary, yet triumphant, voice drifted over the speakers.

"Is everyone all right?" Minako asked breathlessly, huffing and puffing as she spoke. Reis scowl was instantly replaced by a smile at the contact.

"Fine. A few bruised egos, but otherwise unharmed," Rei reported gaily, feeling the after effects of a job well done.

"When do we say goodbye to Station 13.1.22?" the blonde's voice inquired over the connection. Rei looked down at her watch.

"Forty-six seconds" she said softly. A small sigh drifted over the lines.

"Alright, try and get as far away as possible." Minako intoned solemnly. Venus glided on ahead of the carrier taking the lead. Rei kept the engines at maximum output and sped off in pursuit of the glittering mobile suit. She glanced anxiously at the digital numbers of her watch as she counted down the seconds.

A flash illuminated the vacuum of space surrounding 13.1.22. A sea of light flooded the black void and washed over the carrier and GMS darting through the mobile suit debris and dancing among the stars. In her gundam, Minako shut her eyes and turned her head away from the display screen admitting the overwhelming brightness. The luminous tidal wave swept over and through the carrier, temporarily blinding those within. Arms rose protectively to shield faces and eyes shuttered closed in attempts to block out the steam of light. Several jarring noises erupted from the center of the Supernova brilliance, Station 13.1.22. The sound of explosions emanated from the crumbling satellite like a clap of thunder and then faded just as quickly as a summer storm. With the loss of the sound, the light receded as well, casting out everything its radiant brilliance had enveloped.

* * *

A/N- Kind of an abrupt ending, ne? I've got to work on that...


	5. 4th Act

Yay! Yay! The 4th Act! Trish -my beta- andI must have corrected and re-corrected this chapter four or five times. !

Okay, I'm off to Japan for a month and then I'm out of town for a while, so I'll be back around late August. Sorry about the absence.

Keep the reveiws comming and thanks for reading!

Love,

DuchessOfGere

* * *

4th Act

Solar System 19926, Outer Space, Sector 3 (S3), Unregistered SET Transportation Craft– 907 NE

After the luminous destruction of 13.1.22, the inner cabin of the carrier drifted into a stagnant silence. The young men used the quiet to try and quell their inner voices, answer some questions, and organize their thoughts. Their systems had yet to adjust to the situation and their minds worked diligently to absorb the sudden flood of information. Their location was certainly different, as grand-scale wars and space-shaking explosions had all but ceased to exist after the year 197 AC. Here, Mobile Suits were used in open combat, one of the most serious violations of the Peacecraft Resolution –the doctrine that had jump-started the shift to demilitarization after the Eve Wars. However, the piece of evidence that confirmed they had traveled to somewhere beyond the reach of the colonies and the Earth Sphere Unified Nation was the great white Gundanium-plated robot gliding alongside the carrier. Gundanium armaments on any military vehicle were strictly verboten under the Peacecraft Resolution.

Quatre gazed at the cryptic soldier piloting the carrier. Judging by her bunched shoulder muscles and white-knuckled grip on the controls, Quatre instinctively knew she was upset. Her unease and guilt seemed almost palpable to him as he studied the young pilot from behind. She shifted in her chair and Quatre felt a surge of sympathy rise inside of him.

'She's uncomfortable with these mass killings. On a station that size… How many people lived there?' he observed to himself. He felt mildly comforted by the fact that she had enough of a conscience to feel responsible for her own actions.

Unfastening the seat restraint, the Arabian leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees in a deceptively relaxed manner. Quatre had to force the muscles in his back to loosen in order to maintain the at-ease façade.

"Excuse me, Miss. Where are we?" he inquired calmly, voicing the common question that had been running through the five men's minds. Rei started at the sound of his voice, as if she had almost forgotten the presence of the people surrounding her.

"Where," she echoed almost sleepily, as if waking from a daze. She winced at the sloth-minded tone and used one hand to massage her eyelids in an effort to clear the grog. "We are now crossing through Sector Three, a few hundred kilometers from the planet Mars. You were on station 13.1.22, as you know." She glanced over her shoulder at Quatre and gave him a polite half-smile. Quatre returned the smile hesitantly, glad that they had reached some civil level of communication, but found her answer confusing and of no help.

"No, we did not." Wufei was quick to correct her. He had yet to forgive her for her mistrust of his companions and him, not to mention his resentment for having to be "rescued". Rei glared angrily at him and then swiveled back around in her seat to stare out at the expanse of space before them. It was quite obvious that she reciprocated all of his antagonistic feelings and that she would not deign to speak to such an ingrate. Minako sighed over the connection, experience permitting her to foresee Rei's reaction to being snapped at. Minako's cheery voice took on an undertone of intrigue as she rebounded off of Wufei's declaration.

"13.1.22 used to be an observations satellite of the EA. You're claiming that you didn't know that?"

"We do not know where we are and we do not know how we got here," Quatre clarified. It was, Quatre considered, not the best of things to admit to in a situation like theirs, but he knew for certain that he would not have mentioned it if he had not been absolutely positive that they had nothing left to lose. Duo snorted and folded his arms across his chest.

"Well, I've got an idea of how we got here, but it's not one you'll believe." Rei gave him a curious glance out of the corner of her eye, but did not comment. Minako seemed not to have heard Duo's words at all and proceeded in her dialogue with Quatre.

"13.1.22 wasn't built for military action, so it's not equipped with detention cells. That makes taking in prisoners extremely difficult and super taxing. Unless they locked you in a broom closet, I'm not buying that you're prisoners of war. No offense guys, but you got on there somehow." Quatre lifted his eyes to the ceiling in thought. He was not sure how to respond to her allegation, considering the strange memories he had leading up to their arrival in the station corridor. Duo shrugged, not seeing any reason to keep the strange tale a secret. Besides, he thought, if she believed them to be crazy, she might be less likely to shoot them. Feminine empathy for the insane, or something like that.

"Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I have no idea how we got from a beach in Australia to outer-space in the span of a second. Correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but unless we dropped through a wormhole or found some kind of 'gap in the quantum foam' there's really no plausible explanation. Sorry, sweetie." Duo leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head, sending a bright grin in Rei's direction. Rei regarded him skeptically for a few moments, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Minako, are you sure you don't have any biological siblings?" Rei asked, running her narrowed eyes over Duo. Minako tutted at her friend's mocking inquiry.

"No, Rei. You're so mean, sometimes. It's because he called you sweetie, ne?" Minako chided lightly. "Don't worry about her. Go on, you were saying something about quantum foam," she prompted Duo. Rei rolled her eyes and returned her attention to piloting. Quatre cleared his throat and moved back into the conversation.

"As improbable as it may sound, that really is all we know, Miss." Wufei was glowering in his seat next to Quatre while Heero and Trowa were observing the exchange unobtrusively. Wufei scowled and decided to contribute his own interpretation.

"We were dealing with forces beyond human control and were justifiably punished. I said that I would hold all of you responsible if something happened." Trowa gave him an almost amused look, which Wufei undoubtedly saw, but decided to ignore. Rei nodded solemnly in response to Wufei.

"I see. You encountered something evil. You're fortunate that you did not come off any worse," she intoned. Minako made a huffing noise.

"Ah! Oh sure, you reject the scientific excuse about wormholes and what-not, but when someone mentions evil spirits, you break out the Ofuda!" Rei smiled at Minako's antics.

"I quite honestly don't believe either of them, but we'll let Michiru worry about finding out the truth." Rei paused and pursed her lips as if trying to remember some important matter that had been forgotten in the excitement of the moment. Catching the elusive thought, she gave a small gasp, her lips parting and her eyes opening wide. "Michiru! You forgot to call Michiru! We were supposed to report immediately after completing stage-two. Minako, you idiot, I can't believe you forgot!" Rei scolded angrily. She was glaring at the speakers around Duo's knees as if her comrade could see her through them.

"I forgot? Since when is this all my fault? Besides, I sent Michiru a written update while the rest of you were sitting around in your glorified silence." Rei could practically hear the smile in the other agent's words. A light blush graced her cheeks before she was able to chase it away. Minako returned her attention to their passengers. "I meant to tell you, you don't need to call me Miss. My name's Minako Aino and my friend is Rei." Quatre was quick to follow her lead and continue the introductions.

"I'm Quatre Raberba Winner," he gestured to himself cordially for Rei's benefit, though Minako could not see the movement.

"Blondie, right?" Minako asked over the connection. Quatre felt a bit indignant answering to the moniker, but supplied an affirmative reply. Not wanting to feel left out or forgotten for even the briefest of moments, Duo took his turn next.

"Duo Maxwell, the guy with the long brown hair in the braid." Minako gave a chuckle at his self-description. Rei had to consciously stop herself from rolling her eyes. From what she could divine, this looked to be the start of a beautiful gab-fest. Silence was overrated anyway, she concluded as her ego heaved a sigh. Then again, Rei would unquestionably choose the chaos and noise of her friends over the order and silence of solitude. Being alone would be too sad to handle.

"Yes, I remember." Minako was still giggling intermittently. "Anybody else?" Minako directed to the remaining three members of their troop.

"Trowa Barton," the quiet young man volunteered. Rei turned partially around in her seat to look at him. There was a brief silence as Minako tried to place the voice with a face. Rei recognized her friend's plight and supplied her with the answer.

"Green eyes, brown hair," the fiery agent said without taking her eyes off of him.

"Right," declared the vivacious voice. Even though Minako's interaction with the lost boys had been brief, she had already committed their physical appearances to memory and was filing away personal information as it was revealed. Blondie, Quatre (Rebara, Rabea, Rebuba?) Winner, had a soft quality to his voice and seemed to be the most mannerly and diplomatic. The "guy with the long brown hair" gave her the impression of being honest and fairly friendly, as long as one was in his good graces.

There was a relapse into another silence as Minako and Rei waited for the introductions to continue. Rei finally lifted her gaze from her study of Trowa to stare expectantly at Heero. He relented and related the name he had accepted as his own.

"Heero Yuy." He looked Rei straight in the eye and Rei was shocked to find herself glancing away. Minako sounded elated.

"Yuy? That's Japanese, right? Are you of Japanese ancestry?" she asked excitedly. Heero took a few moments to try to determine the relevance of her question, but could not do so. He deliberated on the answer and finally decided on what to say.

"I don't know." His response was disappointingly anti-climactic to Minako, but she forged on regardless.

"Oh, I'm not either. I think I descended from the English or Danish, but I'm not really sure. I just took the name 'Minako Aino' because it was Japanese, since all the other girls did too. Plus, when you put it in the traditional Japanese format –you know, surname first- it translates almost directly as 'Beautiful Little Child of Love', which I just thought was the sweetest thing ever! Isn't that awesome? Oh, and Rei's name, Hino Rei, means Spirit of Fire." She seemed ready to continue with the light-hearted babble but was abruptly cut off by Rei.

"Minako, this isn't appropriate. We're still in the middle of a mission. Aren't you supposed to be standing sentinel?" Rei reminded her curtly. An agitated groan drifted over the speakers.

"Don't worry Rei, I've still got point. I'm paying attention. You can't blame me for wanting to get to know such cute guys better," Minako argued. Rei allowed a small smile and shook her head. She immediately accepted Minako's assurances that she was watching out for them and quickly put the matter out of her mind. Minako was not only an experienced and competent soldier, but she was also the leader of their mission and Rei accepted her orders, even if they did argue about them first. That was what made them a good team: Rei had the good sense to defer to Minako's commands, and, likewise, Minako could rely on Rei's unflappable abilities as a pilot and sharpshooter.

Rei's eyes darted to the side as she tried to glimpse the one young man who had yet to introduce himself.

"And you are…" Rei prompted testily. Ever since he had challenged her during their escape, Rei had disliked him. Wufei glowered and refused to respond to her, opting to sit in stony silence. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance and disgust, but did not press him further.

Minako's voice came over the connection, authoritative and resolute. Rei stiffened at the change in her comrade's tone, instantly alert.

"We just passed the first marker. You should probably…"

"I know," Rei interrupted, already conscious of what was on the other agent's mind. "Thanks." She reached up to the overhead panel with the confident movements of one who is certain of their actions. Directly between the twin pilot's chairs was a ceiling panel dotted with various switches and dials. It ran perpendicular to the main controls and the dash space beneath it. Rei flicked a few of the switches over and gave one of the dials a careful twist. She rotated the knob back and forth delicately in increasingly smaller intervals until she was satisfied with the setting. The noise of accelerating engines could be heard from beneath the steel that composed the floor of the cockpit and the entire carrier began to vibrate slightly. Duo, expecting the carrier to jerk forward and pick up speed, pressed back into his seat in preparation to absorb the shock. He was faintly surprised when the carrier did not increase its speed and proceeded in gliding along steadily at the accustomed pace. "It's going to get really hot in here soon." Rei let her fingers trail over the dials and allowed them to fall languidly back to rest on the controls. Duo smirked at her words and she shot him a warning glare. She did not find the same amusement in her choice of phrasing as the brunette did.

"Hot?" Quatre asked politely, encouraging her to explain. Always willing to talk, Minako was the one to elaborate.

"We have to pass under the shadow of Phobos. The temperature will drop well below zero degrees. In order to keep the engines from freezing over you have to pre-heat the entire carrier. You might want to ditch the jackets. How high did you set it, Rei?" Rei answered immediately.

"Forty-three degrees Celsius." She glanced back up at the dial for confirmation.

"You aren't worried about that stern engine? It doesn't generate a lot of heat to begin with, and it's isolated from the central engines. Move it up to fifty, just to be safe." Minako's tone was friendly and casual on the surface, but Rei could hear the undertones of an order. With an irritated tut followed by a resigned sigh, she reached up to turn the heating dial to the specified temperature.

"Just trying to keep their brains from frying," Rei grumbled as she made the adjustments. After she had finished, she swiveled in her seat to send an apologetic look to the men seated behind her in the passenger section. Quatre smiled comfortingly at her, accepting her silent apology with his usual grace. Minako laughed heartily over the link.

"Oh, they'll be just fine, won't you, guys? If I were you, I'd be more concerned about losing that back engine and being stuck under the moon's shadow for a prolonged period of time. The trip through could wind up being almost twice as long if that engine freezes over. They're tough, they can handle it." Minako spoke with the absolute certainty of a seasoned leader. She was warm yet firm. Rei found this ability to be one of the things she admired most about her friend. Rei herself had always wished to head a group and be in command, but she had never had the opportunity and she was not sure that she would be any good at something that she had never practiced. The hot-tempered agent did splendidly on her own, working solo. However, Rei was not so proud that she did not realize that working as an individual and working in a group were as different as day and night.

"Of course," Quatre acquiesced, ever polished and genteel. He began shrugging out of the light sweater he had worn to ward off the night air from when they had been at the Australian ocean-side. The temperature was already beginning to rise. Duo smiled affably at Rei, but decided to remain still.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. I'm used to extreme conditions," he assured her with a grin. Rei nodded briskly and shot a glance to where Trowa was sitting.

"Under your chair," she said, speaking directly to the green-eyed brunette. "If you lift the handle at the base, there is water in the back, behind the medical supplies." Trowa released the harness strapping him in, got up from his seat, and knelt down by the steel framework. He straightaway found the handle and lifted up the door to reveal a small compartment stocked with water, rations, a fire-stopper, two med-kits, and other useful items. He looked back up at Rei and she nodded in confirmation. Trowa moved aside the medical boxes and dragged out the two canisters of water, depositing them on the floor between Quatre and him. Rei smiled appreciatively and twisted to look at the others in the cabin. "Don't get dehydrated."

By then, the temperature of the cockpit had risen to a distinctly uncomfortable level. While Trowa had been unearthing the insulated water canisters, Duo had removed his Preventers jacket, unbuttoned the first button of his shirt collar, and rolled up the cuffs of his regulation uniform pants. Heero was shucking off his first shirt to expose the plain grey tank top he had worn as an under shirt and Wufei sat rigidly with his jacket folded over his lap. Done with fishing out the water, Trowa slipped out of his own brown jacket and toed out of his shoes. Rei was looking around the compartment, obviously displeased with being the only female. Sweat was dripping down her face and collecting under her black flight suit. They began to pass into the shadow and the temperature dropped sharply before the carrier's temperature controls readjusted and brought the heat back up. The internal temperature read thirty-six degrees and rising. Grinding her teeth in frustration, Rei gave in and stood up to unzip the flight suit. Heero could see her lips moving in a silent mantra, 'I hate men. I hate men. I hate men. I hate men. I hate men…' He decided against saying anything and settled on watching the fuming woman furiously stripping away the sweaty material. She divested herself of the suit from her waist up and sat back down to yank her black boots off. Once that was accomplished, she pulled off the rest of the outfit. She had on a red nylon exercise top and black cotton shorts.

Heero regarded her quizzically. He had seen women in far worse states of dress than that. Just last summer, he had been visiting Relena at the Vice Foreign Minister's residence and she had spent almost the entire time either in a pink bikini by the pool or at conference in her office. Not to mention what Catherine ran around in on those few occasions he had actually seen Trowa with his adoptive sister. Heero decided not to brood over it. He had enough trouble identifying with others, how was he going to do it with a female stranger? Heero closed his eyes in sullen reflection. Relena still did things that seemed to have no logical backing and she was one of his closest friends (he had learned to stop saying 'only' at Relena and Duo's insistence).

The temperature was over thirty-eight and Wufei sat straight in his chair, refusing to look uncomfortable even though his shirt was drenched in sweat. Rei swallowed dryly and reached up to undo her bun. She let the damp mass of black hair fan out over the back of her chair in an attempt to air dry it and keep it off her neck at the same time. When she had let down her almost knee-length hair, she had promptly drawn the attention of everyone in the cabin. Hair that length must have been incredibly difficult to manage and cumbersome on missions, but it was a sight to see when allowed to rest freely. Length upon length of pitch-black hair, wet and droopy but still maintaining a captivating luster.

Quatre grinned secretively at the mixed looks of surprise and amazement on his companions' faces. One of his sisters, Alima, had refused to cut her child's hair and, consequently, the girl had thick brown hair well past her ankles. The last time he had seen his niece, she had been utterly miserable. With luck, the girl's misery may have finally convinced her mother to break out the scissors. Or not. Alima always was a bit eccentric.

"Twenty kilometers and closing," Minako's parched voice rasped over the link. She too was suffering from the intense heat. Rei clenched her eyes shut and tried to tune out her physical body, retreating into a semi-meditative state. Wufei watched her body relax and her hands come to rest on the arms of the pilot's seat. He recognized the slackened posture and quickly discerned what their guide was doing. Deciding it was not such a bad idea, he relaxed his stiff posture, folded his hands over the jacket in his lap, and left the heat behind.

Heero returned his attention to the machine gliding alongside the bulky carrier. The white suit was hard to make out in the darkness. They had passed so close to the large moon that it completely blocked out the sun. Heero could guess that they had situated a base of operations just outside the shadow. It would be a natural deterrent to any enemies trying to attack. The shadow would slow them down long enough to be detected, allowing the base to either prepare for an altercation or to evacuate the establishment. At the speed they were currently puttering along at, it would be a good hour before they left the shadow's confines. Observing the near-comatose condition of his guide and Wufei, Heero stared abjectly out the window, deciding to use the time to devise an appropriate course of action. He did his best to ignore the heat, but could not help himself from feeling a brief spark of envy for the two meditating Asians.

* * *

5th Act in August!

Have a great summer. Go somewhere, get tan, read a book!

Love,

DuchessOfGere


	6. 5th Act

AN- Hey! I'm back from Japan/vacation. It was amazing! Sorry about the limp-wet-noodleness of this chapter. Reveiw or suffer the consequences!

* * *

5th Act

Solar System 19926, Outer Space, Sector 3 (S3), Triton Base – 907 NE

The five engines of the massive SET carrier slowly propelled the transport vehicle and its cargo toward the Beta dock of Triton Base. From a hallway window on H-Deck, Michiru Kaioh watched the ship's steady progression to the dock three decks above her. She had been on her way to the Beta dock to greet the transport's passengers when she had caught sight of the carrier. She smiled softly and watched through reinforced glass as the machine ambled through space. The moon's shadow hung as a foreboding backdrop for the carrier's journey. The black nothingness reminded her of the black hole formations she had studied at Tokyo University.

She could not help but feel some vestige of affection for the moon and its ominous shadow, since it served to protect her outpost from intruders. Triton Base was small and unobtrusive, tucked securely behind Phobos. The station had been engineered so that it hovered just beyond the moon's gravitational pull, but stayed within Mars's orbit. Triton spun in slow circles, nestled in along the edge of the shadow, while floating in sync with Phobos as the moon orbited the red planet.

Michiru followed the carrier's progress with her eyes until she could no longer see the underbelly of the ship –the craft having passed over her head to dock three flights above her. Hurrying to compensate for lost time, Michiru made her way to lift C and called the elevator car. The metal doors slid open as a small chime announced the car's arrival. Stepping in, Michiru slid her key-card through the slot in the wall of the elevator.

"Beta Dock," she instructed the car. There was another chime of affirmation, a shudder from the elevator, and then the steady hum of the pulley as the car rose. The doors slid open to reveal the Beta Dock inner hall. A glass wall let her see out into the open-space area where the SET carrier was connecting to the dock. The dark blue ship carefully approached the docking zone. When it connected, large metal arms reached out from different sides of the dock to hold the craft in place. Once secured, a smaller covered walkway was electronically extended to the passenger door of the carrier. When the walkway reached the passenger door, there was a loud hissing noise as the inside of the walkway was pressurized and oxygen-nitrogen was released into it.

Michiru glanced to her right and saw a tiny blonde woman with her palms pressed to the glass wall as she watched the carrier dock. Michiru felt her heart warm at the sight of the girl. Usagi had arrived at Triton base that morning to greet her friends upon their return. Makoto had accompanied Usagi, but had to leave in the Jupiter GMS on a mission nearly an hour after they had arrived.

The doors to the pressurized tunnel opened and seven figures emerged. Minako grabbed Rei by the arm and hurtled down the covered walkway toward Usagi. Michiru could hear the girls shouting and jabbering from down the hall. The five men Minako had reported picking up were taking in their surroundings with great scruple. Michiru observed them from behind the glass wall. She would run a fingerprint and retina check as soon as she could. Her first priority was finding out who these newcomers were and if they posed a threat to her base or her agents. Minako would write and file a mission account that Michiru could go over at her leisure. Both Rei and Minako were veteran agents and knew to follow procedure without having to be instructed, especially Minako, who had been fighting before she could fully comprehend the reasons for war.

The five young men were making their way across the walkway that bridged the carrier to Triton. Michiru could hear the ending barbs of an argument between Rei and Usagi. Deciding it was time she was introduced to her new wards, Michiru turned gracefully on her heel and glided down the hall towards the three agents. Her reflection trailed obediently behind her as it moved along the glass wall. The girls conversation trailed off as Michiru approached and they turned their full attention to her.

"Michiru, how is Triton?" Minako grinned in way of greeting, to which Michiru smiled back warmly.

"Hello, Minako. Hello, Rei." Michiru eyes connected with Rei's. That fierce determination and anger the young girl had possessed when Michiru first began teaching her remained almost unchanged. Michiru had spent the last seven years showing Rei how to control and use that passion in both fighting and in living life.

As the first of the young men -a pale boy with soft, yet regal features- reached the end of the walk, Michiru averted her eyes from her pupils and gave her attention to the procession.

"Well, girls, are you going to introduce me?" Michiru smiled at her agents who were practically her children. Setsuna, Haruka, and she had trained and cared for the girls for years. They were family. Minako grinned broadly and, spinning on her toe in a flurry of blonde braids, led the lady Commander over to the party of unexpected guests.

"Okay! Everybody, this is the super-duper Commander Michiru Kaioh. She's in charge 'round here at Triton –Triton Base of Operations. Michiru, this is," Minako denoted each of the boys with a flick of her finger, "Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei, um, Trowa, Trowa Barton, Quatre –I'm sorry, what is it?"

"Raberba."

"Raberba Winner, and Heero Yuy. I remember that one because it's Japanese! Isn't that cool? Did you know Kaioh Michiru means—"

"Yes, Minako, we know!" Rei snapped, cutting her partner's babble off at the knees. Minako pouted in response. Usagi took the opportunity to jump into the conversation.

"I'm Usagi Tsukino. I'm sorry, but I probably won't remember all your names at first, so you've got to help me." Usagi smiled brightly, her face radiating acceptance and kindness. Her presence alone seemed to relax everyone in the group. A light shone out from inside her, acting like a beacon in the dark. Minako grinned and flung her arms around the short girl in a hug. Rei smiled at the scene, happy to be among her friends. The soft expression on her face was so disarmingly beautiful and incredibly different from the harsh scowls and smirks that usually comprised her visage that Trowa could only watch her in amazement.

"Ladies, you still have business to attend to." Michiru gave Rei and Minako a chastising look with her reminder. Minako snapped to attention.

"Right. I'm on it, Michiru." Giving the group a casual goodbye wave, Minako trotted off to attend to her business. Rei turned without a word and begin to walk down the hall. Usagi looked from Rei to Michiru to the boys and back to Rei.

"Rei, I'll help you with Mars!" Usagi announced, bouncing after her. Rei rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you help Minako?" The playful banter began.

"You're joking! I hate paperwork! Let me help you with Mars, or else I'm going to be stuck filing mission summaries with Mina." Pout.

The pair continued to jabber until they turned into a room labeled 'Mechanical Storage'. The thick automatic door slid closed behind them, stifling their voices. Michiru decided it was time to give the new arrivals her full attention.

"Well, gentlemen, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a few words with you. Please follow me." Michiru gestured for them to follow her as she made her way back towards the lifts. Two men and a woman, armed and wearing identical uniforms, silently moved forward, bringing up the rear. Michiru turned around to face the boys, her back to the elevator doors. "As I understand, all of you were armed when you were on 13.1.22. I'm assuming that my girls were generous enough to allow you your weapons on the ride back. Unfortunately, due to security measures, I'm going to have to ask you to allow Janet, Rico, and Dillard to search you." Michiru stayed the young men's protests with a raised hand, demanding silence. "Anything they find will be kept in a safe-box and returned to you later," she reassured them. Wufei, furious and offended, stepped forward, eyes alight.

"I refuse! What gives you the right to command me, woman? I am not your prisoner!" he ground out, punctuating the gesture by flinging out an arm, almost taking out Duo in the process. Michiru's deep blue eyes narrowed and her expression became a good deal chillier, like the cold and tumultuous ocean before a storm.

"No, but you are on my space-station –alive only by the good graces of Minako and Rei. Decorum, at the least, demands your cooperation. I will not treat you like prisoners. You are innocent until proven guilty, as the saying goes. However, since I am the Commander of this base you are under obligation to follow my orders while here. If you choose not to, you are more than welcome to sleep outside," she said with a glance out the window at the oxygen-deprived vacuum called space. Her tone made it quite evident that Michiru had lots of prior experience in dealing with insubordinate, stubborn teenagers. Quatre gave an uneasy glance out the window. Deciding he was better off winning the favor of this lady than ostracizing himself in an environment that he was not familiar with, he moved to smooth things over.

"I understand your concern for the security of your base, but we also have to look out for our own safety. I would be more than happy to answer questions. Perhaps, if your guards accompanied you, we would be able to hold on to our weapons. It's more of a matter of reassurance than an aggressive gesture." Quatre tried to barter with the Commander. Michiru took a moment to consider.

"Only if your companions agree to the same terms," she relinquished. Trowa nodded solemnly, looking directly into her eyes. Wufei scowled.

"Fine," he spat out. Duo grinned and gave a shrug.

"I guess. It's a hell of a lot better than going in unarmed." He smiled, but had an annoyed look in his dark blue eyes. The 'prisoner' feel had not quite dissipated. Heero said nothing, opting for stony silence. Michiru waited patiently for his answer.

"Well?" she gently prodded after a long stretch of expectant silence. Nothing. Seeing she was not going to get a reply, she smiled and addressed the four boys that had consented. "You four are to come with me. Rico, please watch our reluctant friend, and call down to F-deck. See if Serge and Chuong can meet us at lift two," she directed. Rico, one of the men in uniform, nodded and moved to stand beside Heero. Michiru smiled in approval and then turned, swiping her identification card and summoning the elevator. The car arrived with a chime and the doors slid open allowing Michiru, the two remaining guards and their guests into the car. With a reluctant glance at Heero, the four boys boarded the elevator. As the doors closed in front of them, Quatre and Duo briefly made eye contact. Yeah, Heero knew what he was doing. They didn't have to worry about it. Not yet.

* * *

"Hey! I'm depraved on account of I'm deprived."


	7. Intermission 1

A/N- Greetings. I apologize for not posting earlier, but I have been _**VERY**_ busy. Junior year. Those of you in eleventh grade or higher know _exactly_ what I am talking about. This chapter is my first "Intermission". These little segments follow my original character, Sailor Ka/Sagira, through her adventures as she tries to rectify her mistake. She'll be going a lot of different places : ) . I'm really looking forward to writing these little side-stories. I hope you enjoy them. They won't all be as serious as this one is.

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Intermission One

Solar System 659, Earth, Australia, Sydney – 199 AC

A young girl abashedly ground the toe of one of her brown sandals into the thick Persian rug. With her head bowed, her long black hair hung freely in front of her face, partially concealing her brown eyes, slightly pronounced nose, and dark complexion. She did not have to look up to know what her surroundings looked like. The rug would eventually change into polished hardwood floor, the floor would continue on until it met abruptly with the white molding, then up nine feet of teal faux marble wallpaper until wall met ceiling. Languidly dangling from the center of the high ceiling was a brass chandelier, twinkling in the late-morning sun of the east-facing parlor.

White wicker chairs with blue and white china-pattern cushions were artfully arranged about the room. A glass-top coffee table and sofa headed one end of the room while the corresponding wall boasted an elegant fireplace and mantle. Six tall white-framed windows offered a breathtaking view of the Australian coastline. The far right window was open and the sea breeze was playing with the delicate blue curtains, pushing up one end and then ruffling gently through the material. The curtains bulged and swayed, swelling and cresting as if they were a part of the ocean, just like the waves breaking on the beach.

The glass table had been ornamented with a few magazines, a mostly-empty crystalline glass of water on a china-blue coaster, and a thick tome bound in gold. An elegant circular pattern, vaguely reminiscent of the planetary orbits, was engraved in the sepia cover. The book was sealed with a heavy, metallic strap holding the front cover securely to the back one, ensuring that the book's contents would be safe from prying or unworthy eyes. No words were printed, etched, or otherwise visible anywhere on the binding.

Only two people occupied the spacious parlor: the young lady, staring avidly at her toes, and a regal, older woman. She was tall and thin with thick black hair twisted into a stylized bun. The pride glowing in her sharp green eyes alluded to a life of class and prestige, and her flawless poise was a mark of learned elegance and, perhaps, forced maturity. Her ensemble, demeanor, and very presence meshed perfectly with the opulent parlor. The woman was every bit the aristocrat, always the princess, but never the child.

Her much younger companion stuck out in the spotless room. The adolescent's hair was in disarray from a day outdoors, her pink collared shirt was crimped and wrinkled, and her short denim overalls were missing a buckle in classic tomboy style. Gritty clumps of wet sand covered her ankles, sandals, and lower calves. Standing, facing each other, they appeared as the princess and the pauper, meeting in a fantastic castle by the sea.

The young pauper absentmindedly worried a round bronze brooch with hieroglyphics carved into the face. A deep silence permeated the room, the girl's cheeks coloring with humiliation under the quiet. Her majesty arranged her arms across the white bosom of her sundress, folding the right limb under the left and tucking her hands into the crooks of her elbows. She tilted her narrow chin down and fixed the slightly embarrassed teen with a disapproving stare. The girl, barely thirteen, shifted uneasily under her mentor's reproachful gaze.

"Well?" The girl had anticipated the calm, moderately tempered tone, yet she still winced at the words. "What do you have to say for yourself, Sagira?" the princess continued.

"It wasn't really my fault," Sagira answered in earnest. "I was only out for a moment, Chione, and then these boys, coming out of nowhere, just… Gyah! I don't know what they could have been thinking!" Sagira's rant was gradually gaining in drama and volume by the syllable. "I did everything I could, but they didn't listen to me, Chione! 'Hello, mate? I said _don't_ touch the unstable inter-dimensional portal!' Honestly, how thick do you have to be? Drongos! I even said it twice. Gyah! Besides, it's 'Sailor Nut, Senshi-in-training'. You can't expect me to be responsible for things like this!" Chione frowned and moved closer to the ranting adolescent, placing her royal fingers on Sagira's small, dirty shoulders, bending to be eye-level with the young girl. Sagira's monologue trailed off at the contact, her mouth turning to a pout. Serious forest-green eyes connected with vivacious brown ones.

"Sagira, Sagira, it _is_ your responsibility. When you picked up that brooch, when you accepted your obligations as Sailor Nut, you made yourself accountable for the wrongs and mistakes of the universe –yours as well as everyone else's." Transitioning from solemn to sympathetic, Chione wrapped the small, grungy soldier in a comforting embrace. Sagira mutely nodded her understanding. "I know it's unfair, but it's part of being a scout. The weight of the universe rests on our shoulders."

Giving a reassuring squeeze, Chione released the slim shoulders, watching with satisfaction and pride as they immediately squared themselves, as if rising to meet the impossible load they must bear. "So you made a blue. You'll learn from it, but, for now, it's your _responsibility_ to go recover those poor blokes and bring them back home." Her tone had lightened and was almost teasing. "I'll fix up the rift while you start looking. We only have the dimension book on loan from the archives, so I have to seal up your mess and then teleport back out to the archives," she reprimanded. Sagira grinned crookedly.

"Sorry," came the half-hearted apology. It was acknowledged, but did not warrant a reply.

"Here are the dimensions you should start with first- they're mostly inhabited by humans. Come back to me for the next hundred," Chione instructed, reaching into the pocket of her sundress and withdrawing a folded sheet of paper. Taking the list from Chione's hand, Sagira unfolded it and read over its contents with a groan.

"Gyah…"

"I suggest you start with universe 8066." Reaching back in to her dress pocket, Chione withdrew an alabaster brooch, much like Sagira's bronze one. Anticipating her mentor's desire, Sagira jogged over to the open window, poked her head out, and -- on confirming that the beach was clear for a good thirty meters-- slammed the window shut, drawing the curtains. She turned to see Chione's long, thin arm stretched high above her head, the broach clasped securely in her hand.

"Ka Spirit, Make-up!"

A blinding, golden light filled the room. Sagira closed her eyes against the luminescent onslaught. By the time she gathered the courage to open them, the princess had already disappeared and in her place stood the Egyptian warrior, Sailor Ka. A skirt, breastplate, and gold ribbons braided into black hair comprised the uniform of the Senshi of the Ancient Heavens. "No time like the present," Ka reminded her young comrade. Sagira glared hotly at the list trapped between her curled fingers. Ka rolled her eyes in a dramatic show of exasperation, but her wide grin belied her discontented façade. "Good luck, darling. Take care of yourself and don't get lost." Sagira sighed heavily.

"I'm not an ankle biter anymore, Ka," Sagira protested. Ka nodded, still smiling.

"I know." A soft breeze began to blow through the room, gradually gaining in speed and intensity, circling and circling until there was a small tornado with Ka as the eye. The curtains flapped and thrashed, the brass loops rattling against the drape-pole.

Then it was over. The wind abruptly died and Sagira was left in an empty room. Glancing at the glass-top coffee table, Sagira saw that the Book of Dimensions had disappeared with Ka. The glass of water had overturned and was soaking through the back pages of one of the magazines. Making a small noise of agitation, Sagira lifted the dripping magazine out of the slowly spreading pool and dropped it, wet cover up, on top of the other magazines on the table. Tugging out her soiled pink shirt from her overalls, Sagira employed the hem of the pink cotton garment as an impromptu napkin, using it to soak up the mess. Tucking the damp material back into her overalls, she used the other hand to gently right the upset glass, placing it carefully back on to its china-pattern coaster. The area was still a little damp, but the glass surface would not suffer water rings or any other sort of blemish.

Satisfied with her cleaning work, Sagira examined her list again. After a moment of intense scrutiny and careful examination, she closed her eyes, held her breath and, holding the paper firmly in her right hand, let her left index finger trail jaggedly down the surface of the paper, stopping at random. Opening her eyes a fraction, Sagira squinted at the universe fate had chosen for her. With a sigh and a shrug, she exchanged the list for the brooch she had stuffed into her hip pocket. Holding the brooch above her head in perfect imitation of Chione, the little pauper called out the words, unleashing her power. In a flash of dark purple light, the sand and grit of Sagira's ensemble was wiped away and replaced with the impeccable outfit of Sailor Nut.

"Gyah! More work." Sagira grumbled even as the gale-force winds returned to the parlor. A shout of "Sailor Teleport!" could be heard over the roar of the winds before the entire room fell silent; the rustling of the curtains and the clinking of the overturned glass hitting the table were the only sounds left in the empty parlor.

* * *

Blue – Slang for a mistake or error. 


	8. Act 6

Oh, my God! It's my story! Ya know... the one I've neglected for nearly a year. I've been away sooo long, and all I have to show for myself is a piddly, half-assed chapter. Not even betaed! (I'm so ashamed u-u) As always, tell me if you spot incongruities or typos and I'll jump on it (n-n). Oh, the ocassional just-for-the-heck-of-it reveiw dosen't hurt either. Keep in mind that I'm a developing young writer and, accordingly, please be a harsh as you possibly can (can't expect me to learn otherwise). Sorry for the delay! I'm in England now (at Oxford Turotial College), so I'll have a bit of spare time on my hands. That means more chapters! Yay!

And after much ado, I present Act 6!

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Rei lifted yet another bin packed with tools, propping the worn metal against her hip as she rummaged through. Other similar tin containers were pilled around her feet, there contents having been searched and found unsatisfactory. The cluttered storage closet was filled with an amalgam of various boxes, some tall as a man and some as minute as a shoe box. Brown fingers, dirtied by dust and grime, racked through the bin, flicking wrenches and drill heads away without a seconds pause. In a fit of agitated rage, Rei hefted the box into one hand and hurtled it across the room and into the only bare wall space: the door. The accompanying shriek of fury was muddled with the initial crash of the tin on the door, followed by the chime of falling screwdrivers.

Usagi instinctively ducked, casting her pale arms over her head in a reactionary shield. Once relatively certain that all prospective danger had passed, she slowly lowered her arms and stood up, blue eyes glued to Rei and back slightly rounded, ready to curl back into a defensive crouch if her temperamental friend showed any hint of a second out lash.

"I thought you'd already fixed the plate," Usagi voiced cautiously. Rei glared hostilely over the top of a particularly tall container.

"It was only a patch job. It's not going to last long and that rattling was driving me crazy. Do you know how hard it is to find point-five luna-steel bolts?" Rei groused, gazing unenthusiastically into the shadowy depths of the container. Usagi placed her hands on her hips, throwing on an injured air.

"Of course I do. I've had to replace lost bolts before, too." Cocking her head to one side, Usagi examined Rei's bent-at-the-waist form from the new angle, giggling when Rei's legs tilted vertically and the drooping mass of black hair stuck out straight to one side. Rei stared back at her for a suspended moment and then relaxed, glad to hear laughter again. Minako had laughed during the mission, but Rei could not have relaxed then, no matter how pleasant the sound. Besides, Minako knew missions were no joke. When she laughed on a mission the noise was merely an echo of the joy she could feel as a normal girl. Rei knew none of her jokes or gwaffs had been real.

Usagi's laughter was real though. Here, where no one could see them, they could be real. Rei smiled, genuinely, and returned to scouring the storage bins. Usagi grinned as well, shuffling backwards until her hands met the cool side of a smooth, metal crate. Placing a palm on either side of her waist, she pushed up with her arms and pushed back with her toes, settling herself primly on the edge of the large cube. Usagi began idly swinging her bare legs up and down, letting the heel of her shoes fall back against the hollow crate in the steady rhythm of a two-beat. She cleared her throat, gaining a brief glace from Rei, and let her eyes casually scroll across the room in feigned interest.

At first, Rei ignored her, picking meticulously through each successive box with a single-minded determination. Usagi cleared her throat again and the pounding of her feet became louder and more persistent. Rei smirked, and after a good thirty seconds more of dragging out Usagi's agony, gave an over exaggerated sigh of reluctance, and caved in to the silent prompting.

"How was your mission?" Rei's tone was listless, but her expectant companion seemed thrilled, regardless. Usagi leapt off the crate, exuberant at the prospect of recounting her time on earth in what Rei was sure would be excruciating detail.

"It was wonderful." She spun in a playful circle, arms spread and pigtails flying. She stumbled on a discarded toolbox mid twirl, but was able to regain her balance without injury. Rei snorted.

"So, no problems?" Rei shoved aside the container she had been looking through in favor of another, more promising metal box. Usagi shook her head her blonde bang bouncing across her brow.

"No. There was a break in --a robber--, but nothing campus security couldn't handle. There was also an assassin the day of the summit. The guy wasn't SET or anything, but I still got to spend the next four hours in a safe room with Mamo-chan protecting him." Usagi clasped her hands to her chest, a look of remembered bliss crossing her visage. Rei wanted to gag. Usagi was practically glowing.

"I'm glad you had so much fun, spending an entire week with your boyfriend and getting paid to do it, too. You two are lucky no one's caught on. If the clients found out you had such a personal connection to your assignment, you'd never see him again." Usagi dropped the expression of rapture and gave a watery smile. She had obviously thought of the uncomfortable possibility before. Suddenly feeling mildly guilty for having brought it up, Rei hastened to change the topic. "The assassin. Did you…" Wrong topic, Rei decided as soon as the words had left her mouth. She had effectively moved the conversation from relationship troubles to death. Usagi understood the unfinished inquiry and shook her head.

"I didn't kill him. He wasn't a trained agent, just a run-of-the-mill rebel. He was probably hurt and confused and just looking for attention." Usagi let her head drop back, allowing her spine to support the weight as if her thoughts had grown too heavy for her neck to bear. War pushed people to extremes that may once have been deemed impossible, especially those caught in the cross-fire. "I disabled him and turned him over to the campus guards. I'm sure they'll take care of him." She lifted her head, a bright and confidant smile giving her face a pleasant glow. Even when she felt guilty or melancholy, Usagi had always done her best to be optimistic. She prided herself on her constant, effortless good-nature. When Rei smiled with her, she mentally congratulated herself on a mood well lifted.

Rei gave a sudden shriek, startling Usagi. A small, square-headed bolt was clinched tightly between Rei's slim fingers.

"A point-five luna-steel!" Rei gloated, grasping the elusive little piece in her fist. "Come on. Grab a drill and get a move on," Rei instructed, bouncing on the balls of her feet in glee. Without waiting to see if Usagi was fallowing her orders, Rei strode out of the room, the mechanical door sliding open at her approach. Usagi looked around hurriedly, grabbed a seemingly adequate power-tool and scuttled off in pursuit of her friend.

The two emerged into the hall to find a wary Heero and a rather peeved looking Rico. Usagi eagerly approached them, swinging the drill by the coiled black cord as if it were a picnic basket.

"Hi, Rico. Michiru already took everybody else down, did she?" Usagi chattered genially. Rico smiled and nodded, his disgruntled frown abating. She turned her sunny smile on the somber young man next to Rico.

"So, Hikari-"

"Heero," Rei corrected.

"Ack! Sorry, Heero. So, you're the dissonant? You didn't have to. Michiru is very fair and she wouldn't do anything underhand to a bunch of unarmed guys." Heero eyed the chatty young woman from the corner of his eye, intrigued. "It was clever of you to split the group, though. Have you done this sort of thing before?" Rico glanced from Heero to Usagi, surprised by gregarious young agent's insight. Usagi was beginning to turn red under Heero's intense, silent scrutiny, prompting Rico, in a gesture of compassion, to grunt emphatically in order to draw the attention away from her embarrassed blush. An awkward silence fell over the group, Rei eyeballing Heero and Usagi and Rico making lame fish-motions with their mouths in attempts to speak. Rico was beginning to shift anxiously, compulsively tapping a finger against the barrel of his imposing space rifle, when Usagi burst.

"So!" She all but shouted in her desperation. "Heero, where do you, uh, come… from?" Her enthusiasm gradually fell to renewed embarrassment as she realized the emptiness of the inquiry. Heero seemed surprise, if the slight widening of his eyes was any indication. Rei supposed that he could have been afraid, but she hardly saw any reason for him to be. Surprise, then, she concluded.

"The colonies," Heero stated after a brief hesitation. Usagi's smile increased a hundred watts, elated that he had responded at all.

"Wow. So, the terra-forming colonies on Mars?" Usagi chatted animatedly. "How did you wind up all the way in Sector 4? Oh! Are your parents migrant workers at the colony? That's a really hard lifestyle, I hear. I've only been in the Mars colonies a few times before. I wish I'd gone more, if you're from there," Usagi was grinning broadly, pleased by having found something to converse about. Rei was looking increasingly sour over the course of Usagi's diatribe. Heero regarded her carefully, absorbing what he could from her speech. No colonies, or, at least, no L1, fully established communities on Mars, and what looked to be a raging war. The feeling of vertigo increased and Heero averted his gaze to the black beyond the window.

"No," he replied bluntly. Usagi's smile flickered and she returned to the practice of gaping like an air-born sea creature. Rei heaved an aggravated sigh, thoroughly annoyed with Heero's insubstantial answers and the waste of time.

"Yes, wonderful," Rei intoned dryly. "If you'll excuse me. Rico," Rei nodded her head in parting and received a dutiful nod in return. Rei turned her attention to the pensive Heero. After a long, excruciating mental debate, Rei pursed her lips and gave a curt nod. "Heero," she managed to force out. His expression was cool and the only acknowledgment she received was the slight flicker of his eyes reflected in the window. Satisfied, Rei wrapped her fingers around Usagi and began stomping down the hall. Usagi stumbled after her, managing a cheery wave before the duo rounded a corner. Heero followed their progress through the thick glass as the wound around the observation deck, up the ramp, and disappeared into the carrier, drill and bolts in hand.

The sound of the elevator door chiming open drew his attention to the six emerging figures, his gaze landing on an exceedingly distraught Michiru.

"Where's Usagi?" she asked breathlessly.


End file.
